The Woodcutter's Axe
by Arkenn
Summary: When Ruby led Yang to Summer's grave when they were both young, they didn't expect that it would be the last time they'd see each other for years. Ruby returns to Vale a decade later to try and become that which she dreamed of being when she was just a kid - a Huntress. She bears with her not a signature scythe, but an axe of steel, and memories to last a lifetime.
1. Combat Assessment

**AN:** Thanks for picking up my story! I hope you enjoy your time here.

 **Chapter 1 :: Combat Assessment**

Blake had been nose-down in a book for the past halfish hour while another duo of would-be Huntsmen and Huntresses duked it out on the show floor below. She had lifted her eyes from the page a couple of times to see who exactly was competing, but time and time again she found herself somewhat bored.

She, along with the couple dozen other youth, were sitting in the combat hall in Beacon, lined sparsely among the bleachers.

" _All those of you who have applied to Beacon academy without prior experience at a combat school must first compete in combat trials. These are for your own safety, to prove that you have the requisite ability to fight the creatures of Grimm, as well as the safety of others. If you found yourself helpless whilst protecting civilians, who would be able to protect both you and your charges?"_

Glynda had gone on and on about the topic, and had reiterated it between matches as if it would help the bruised egos – _and ruined dreams –_ of those who had been given the boot, as it were.

The swiftness of the process surprised the Faunus, who noted that though there was a one-on-one selection process, most of the people were double-eliminated. She turned her gaze up to watch two people who looked like they were competent with blades square each other up in traditional fencing poses. They looked like they were ready to duel on a pirate ship, as if swashbuckling was the call of a Huntsmen, and not the more likely duel with monsters.

Before the match even begun, Blake already knew what was going to happen. One of them, as they both looked competent, would eke out a 'fencing' victory, which would lead to their double-elimination.

She was about halfway through her current page when Blake heard the announcement, and nodded to herself. The criteria for passing Glynda's test seemed pretty simple. Fight a fight which would lend itself to victory over an _enemy_ , not an opponent in a sports arena. Victories didn't have to be decisive, judging by the fact that even those who lost were sometimes given the offer to join regardless.

 _Fight hard, prove thyself in the fields of battle and proveth thine soul to the heavens above!_ The quote, obtrusively forcing its way into her mind, caused a flush of embarrassment to flush her skin for a half moment before she recuperated. She glanced sideways to see if the only person nearby had noticed, but she seemed distracted by the fight below, much to Blake's relief.

"They're pretty good." The sudden comment caused Blake to jump, closing the book on her own finger as a reflex so she wouldn't lose her place. Another sidelong glance confirmed that the young woman hadn't noticed her lapse, and Blake nearly let out a sigh of relief. " _really_ good."

The Faunus nodded in agreement slowly, not offering any comment as it wasn't really clear if the Brunette expected one. There was an awkward break of a few seconds before she sized up the fight below and decided to offer her best non-committal reply:

"They're OK."

This carefully crafted statement, born of a lifetime of passively practicing prose through osmosis – the mountain of book she read had to be good for something – didn't seem to give the hint Blake was going for. With a certain amount of incredulity, the girl turned, leveling a look that was an equal mix disappointment and scrutiny.

The disappointment Blake registered immediately, causing a bitter taste to grow in her mouth though the pout on the girl's face did something to offset the feeling.

"Are you even watching the matches?" The girl questioned, her tone belying her obvious disapproval. It wasn't biting, however, and Blake noted that everything the girl seemed to express to her had a playful hint. She continued, with this same lighthearted sarcasm. "Could it be that the greatest battle in this room is actually the one between you and your book?"

"It's certainly _very_ interesting." Blake stated dully, holding it up as if to remind the girl that there was something important she was being kept from. "And I would _love_ to get back to it. Right now."

"Alright, alright, Just one question, I guess." The woman sighed, shaking her head. "Are you better than them?"

Blake's eyes narrowed a bit, though the other girl seemed a bit distant. "Why?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't know. You sort of glanced at the two that were fencing before and looked away as if you weren't watching a world-class set right in front of you."

Blake wasn't embarrassed that she had been caught, but she was a little thrown off that the girl had noticed, and her brows creased once more. She didn't really have an answer to that.

"I guess…" Blake shrugged. "It's a fight. I've seen it before, I don't really find it interesting."

"You don't think it might be _educational?_ " The girl pressed, her tone again turning that same tone. Blake recognized it now as the girl trying to be funny, maybe. If Blake had been in a terribly conversational mood, which she wasn't, she might've taken the bait. "I mean, Stella Jay is the best boxer in Vale and here she is trying to knock out a guy in armor and making some progress. It's pretty impressive."

Opening up about her strengths and weaknesses as a fighter wasn't on Blake's plate for the evening, so she turned her nose back to her book and cracked it open. She did, from time to time, did steal glances at the fight. The Faunus despite herself found the fight between Jay and this unknown man wielding a mace to be quite to be entertaining. The brawler was strong, and despite this 'Cardin's superior strength and strong aura, she was able to effectively counter.

However, when the time ran out on their fight, Glynda motioned to speak with Jay. The two spoke quietly, and it was clear to see that despite her best efforts, she would be eliminated here. Her shoulders sagged and she gave a curt nod, and as she scaled the steps her head was hung low with a sad smile. She would try again next year, that much was plainly obvious.

And in that way, Blake noticed what the girl was talking about. Though Cardin got the go-ahead to join Beacon, and his Aura was strong, Blake could tell from how he was walking that he would be feeling pain for the next little while. It was an impressive feat, considering that the aura register for Jay had been dead the entire time, whilst Cardin's beat a strong green. She didn't only get a few punches past him, the Faunus realized, she must have been walking all over him to manage to bruise his jaw like she had.

She didn't get hit once and her only tools were her gloves and her wits.

Blake almost felt like commenting on that to the mystery girl, but the grin she was on the receiving end of made it clear she had been read. Before she could huff once more and steel her resolve to ignore the pest the Huntress' microphone whined with some reverb.

"Our next combatants are Blake Belladonna and…" The pause that followed was a hair too long, and Blake noted that Glynda was scanning the crowd with raised brows. "Ruby Rose?"

The tone of voice rung distinctly uncertain, as if she couldn't really believe the words on the page. Blake herself felt drawn to look around to see who was so strange to have caused the Huntress to look so confused.

She didn't have to look far, as the girl beside her stood, waving an arm over her head.

"Ruby here!" She shouted, picking a weapon off of the bench beside her and slinging it over her shoulder. She then turned to Blake and smiled. "Looks like that's my cue!" She winked, her grin widening. "Promise to watch?"

Blake's eyes drifted to Glynda, who seemed stunned.

 _That's… More than strange._ Blake thought as she stood herself, holding up her hand for Huntress to see, though she only got a distracted glance from the blonde. "I don't have much of a choice." Blake sighed, as if she was being forced into this – which she was—and keeping the suspicion out of her tone.

"And here _I_ thought you were only here to read books to the sound of gunfire." Ruby chuckled. "Well, I'll see you in the pit!"

Before Blake could reply she blinked as a rather stiff gust of wind ruffled her hair. The girl leapt from where she was standing beside Blake at the back of the theatre to the floor far below, landing a few feet away from Glynda, who looked like she had mostly recovered. The older woman had narrowed eyes as she spoke with Ruby, who sort of looked sheepish from Blake's position.

The Faunus packed her book into her bag and walked along the bleachers slowly. She was pretty sure that her best bet to stay at Beacon would be to lay low. If the girl who had been pestering her was already drawing attention from one of the teachers there, it would probably be a good idea to steer clear of her. The last thing she needed would be to get involved with anyone as suspicious as this 'Ruby'.

When she reached the dais where she and Ruby would be fighting the other girl was stretching her arms over her head and rolling her shoulders. Her stretching seemed sort of out of place as most the other fighters didn't seem to care about warming up, not that it was a bad idea.

Getting a better look at the girl now that she wasn't right next to her, Blake noticed at least one reason for why Ruby was a bit odd. She looked older than Blake by a couple years, and was taller by about half a head. Her short black hair was pulled back behind her ears with a couple of clips, giving her what Blake called the 'Forehead' look.

Probably the most eye-catching thing, however, was the half-cloak she sported. It looked like it was made of some sort of felt, and based on the rather drab blacks and browns that the girl wore for her pants, shirt, and boots, she kept good care of it.

Blake wasn't quite so enamored, thinking that the loose fabric probably was a real pain when fighting, since it probably flopped all which way.

"Do you like it?" Ruby called, her eyes glinting with humor as if she caught Blake doing something embarrassing. Which, in this case, Blake realized with a groan, was her ogling of the girl's Garment. "First thing I bought when I got here, actually. As in a few hours ago before the opening ceremony thing. I don't—"

"Do you ever stop?" Blake said with some sharpness in her voice, cutting Ruby off.

The girl seemed to consider that for a moment before shrugging. "I guess we'll find out."

Blake turned on her scroll and slipped it into her shorts, turning on the aura detector, and caught sight of the bar on the display blinking to life, her aura registering green. Ruby's name was on the board, but judging by the completely blank expression on her face when she tried to mimic Blake, she wasn't having much luck.

 _What sort of fool...?_ Blake thought with some amazement, shaking her head when Ruby looked at her with pleading eyes, holding the scroll as if it were some sort of strange and arcane sea shell. _She chats up people for no good reason giving up random tidbits of information, doesn't know how to operate her scroll from the look of it, and she actually_ expects _me to help her._

Blake, surprising herself, let out yet another sigh and approached Ruby, but was interrupted by the deep buzz of the timer. She knew that was the cue for them to start fighting, but hesitated as to what to do.

Ruby pocketed the device with a shrug before giving Blake a look that said ' _are you ready?_ '

Blake nodded, drawing Gambol Shroud in its sheathed form and brandishing it at the ready. No sooner had she done so than the girl across the room full disappeared with a great whoosh of air like a jet engine. There was a half-beat pause before a distinct clack of shoes behind the Faunus, giving her enough time to dive to the side and leave an afterimage behind.

Giving herself a full ten-foot lead on Ruby, who had a rather comical look of despair with a foot through the clone's chest. She looked relieved that the image disappeared, but Blake didn't give the girl much more time to ponder. From her crouched position she leapt towards Ruby, noting that the girl hadn't drawn her weapon from its covering yet.

The Faunus took a swipe with the combined cleaver during her approach, forcing Ruby to take a half step back. Rooting her feet on the ground again she pressed on with the weapon in its cleaver form, using swift and broad slashes to force the defending girl back inch by inch.

The slicing motions were silent in the air, and only the sound of Ruby's boots against the floor were audible, their distinct clicking and clacking where the heel and toe contacted the ground a bizarre noise. Blake herself wasn't one much for shouting when fighting, and it seemed that Ruby wasn't either, given her slightly opened lips and steady breathing.

Silence aside, the other strange thing that Blake noticed was how Ruby was handling her weapon. The fact that it wasn't drawn could indicate a few things, that it was either not useful for fighting against nimble opponents for example, but the Faunus was wary. The girl's arms were muscled but unarmored, so the odd moments where the girl would see to hold up a forearm to block then think twice about it… It was a nervous move used by fighters when they first start. Blake remembered the sharp rap on her forearms when she showed even the slightest inclination of throwing up her hand for a block. It was usually beaten out of students of combat because doing something like that in a fight could lose you an arm.

Whether or not Ruby was an amateur or not aside, the girl's footwork proved to be sufficient to keep herself on-beat. Blake found herself hard-pressed to press any advantage because it never seemed like she was able to put Ruby off-balance. At every vertical slash the girl would pivot around the Faunus to redirect the direction of the fight.

Still wary of Ruby's unrevealed weapon, Blake drew her sword from the sheathe and used the moment to cross-up. Leaving an afterimage she slipped sideways and slashed horizontally at the Ruby's midsection. As she slid along on her knees she saw the weapon on Ruby's back rotate along her body. Almost like a hula hoop the Faunus watched as the strap slid along Ruby's back to spin the body of her weapon in the way of the blade.

The clang Blake's blade and Ruby's weapon filled the room, and Ruby's head whipped to Blake's new position with surprise in her eyes, which quickly narrowed. Blake herself was surprised that the girl hadn't expected the sneak-attack, since her weapon seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

"Not cool." Ruby deadpanned as she flashed out of sight with a blur, and Blake dropped a mimic as she instinctively rolled to the side, expecting another blow to her back. She was greeted with a rather loud noise which caused her to flinch, and she turned her head to see Ruby leaning on a rather large axe which had been driven into the ground. The ends of the weapon weren't visible, the twin points of the axe having been driven nearly a full inch into the floor, giving the distinct impression that that terrible noise had in fact been Ruby showing some _mild_ dissatisfaction. "And here I was, going to make some _dramatic_ show of revealing my _secret weapon._ "

Pulling her weapon free, Blake took a moment to recall that Ruby's arms had been ripped before. This might be why.

Blake scrambled to her feet and raised her weapons to block, but the other girl seemed content to watch for a moment. The older girl held her weapon close to the axe-head, and Blake assumed that was the more defensive—

Her musings were cut very short when Ruby flashed forwards. A small part of Blake's mind realized, though this particular revelation might've been more useful half a second ago, that Ruby would be just as fast with her weapon drawn as when it was sheathed.

Blake dropped flat to the ground, but on the way down found herself taking a rather un-friendly blow to the back, which sent her scrabbling along the ground for a moment as she tried to regain her footing. She took the moment to swing back with Gambol Shroud, letting the weapon loose as it swung towards where Ruby had been standing

She heard a clank, which she expected, and as she righted herself she pulled back on the ribbon, recoiling it back to her hand. She saw Ruby standing nonchalantly, spinning her weapon in front of her in a lazy loop before lowering the end of the axe close to the ground and adopting a more aggressive stance. She didn't move at first, though she did lunge forwards, apparently aiming to close the gap swiftly, but not making use of her extraordinary speed.

Blake swung Gambol Shroud again, this time disengaging the safety on the glock. As the blade at the other end of the ribbon rocketed at a wide angle towards Ruby the girl dodged slightly towards it, swapping her grip on her Axe to keep the broad part of the blade up. Blake was impressed by the Girl's instincts, but didn't let that expression show on her face as she waited for Ruby to commit to the block.

With narrow timing Ruby lifted the broadside of her axe like a shield, jumping towards the swinging blade at the same time. With weapons on long cords like Blake's, your only option was to either dodging, or blocking at the sharp end. If you were too close, and you tried to stop it at the cord, all you did was give the blade a new pivot to rotate on. But if you knocked the Blade's momentum off with a strike, you could avoid the deadly propeller that could be swinging around your own neck.

Blake, of course, knew this weakness. During sparring sessions with Adam it had been made abundantly clear that her ranged attacks were anything but unavoidable to most skilled fighters. That's why Gambol Shroud could be fired remotely.

Just as Ruby was about to deny the attack Blake gave a sharp tug on the ribbon attached to her hand, activating the trigger from where she stood. The barrel of the gun, pointed downward in the weapon's slightly angled trajectory, flashed as a bullet was fired and popped the blade up in a sharp bump.

The effect was simple, and took only a fraction of a second. What should have been a clean block by Ruby was turned into a free hit by Blake as her weapon slipped over Ruby's axe and was sent on a clean collision course with her skull. Blake could see a little frown settle on Ruby's face just before the hit, which almost made Blake laugh.

Not giving the axewoman a chance to recover, Blake brought the weapon to bear again, but Ruby was ready this time, driving the fork of her axe over the ribbon to prevent Blake from moving Gambol Shroud. Blake tugged hard, but as the blade caught against the edge of the axe it was clear that it wasn't going to be moving.

She wasn't given much time to ponder, as Ruby lunged again. She didn't use that blinding speed, which Blake was relieved to see, but she did move quite quickly. She was on Blake with a flurry of fists, which Blake found herself frustratingly dodging. She still had the cleaver sheathe, but she kept having to block with both of her arms when a heavy-footed strike aimed for her chest was launched.

Blake noted, despite herself, and with a none-to-small smidge of sarcasm, that Ruby was probably just as dangerous without her weapon as she was with it. _Even if I don't have to worry about my head._ She thought, dryly.

As this little barrage continued, and as Blake started to feel more confident that while Ruby was certainly strong, she wasn't exactly _lethal_ with her fists, she started to feel, rather than see, a pattern.

Ruby wasn't one to let up on her punches and kicks, that much was clear, and while she did feel like a particularly aggressive _wall_ there was a certain order of strikes she used. Usually three attacks in a row, split between punches and kicks, would be accented by a particularly strong fourth hit which stung like being stabbed. Sometimes she cut it short to three. But the last hit always came from about the same place as the first hit, meaning that where she attacked was predictable enough that Blake was able to keep her block up.

Even so, Blake knew she wasn't going to be able to win from her position, only draw out the fight, and while Ruby was proving to Glynda that she had the speed and the strength to be a Huntress, the Faunus knew that she hadn't done much to plead her case to the onlookers.

She came to Beacon to make a statement about who she was. Not to be beaten into a corner by a girl who didn't even have her weapon at hand.

"You're doing really well." Ruby murmured, her voice soft but a bit strained as she continued to attack. "But aren't you forgetting a little trick of yours?"

Blake was confused for a moment before she remembered her own semblance and internally scoffed. She had completely forgotten in the moment Ruby had switched the tempo of the battle, and here she was looking for an out when she had one ready.

Clenching her fists for a moment she decided to do something a bit risky. Ruby was trying to help her out, at least that was the impression, but as the blows continued to land in their rhythmic pounding it was clear she wasn't going to go out of her way.

Blake had questions, but as another round of hits came her way she decided it was better to contemplate them later.

She rolled the die on which hit was going to be the strongest one this time, more forcefully batting away a straight kick to her torso as well as a jab to her stomach. The third hit she sensed would be the bruiser, and when Ruby's hand splayed and she tilted her forearm to elbow Blake in the collarbone.

Slipping away as a shadow, Blake repositioned herself and made a dash for Gambol Shroud, which was surprisingly close given the pressure Ruby had put on her. In fact, now that she had the moments to think clearly, it made sense that they couldn't be too far or else the ribbon on her arm would have gone taut.

Allowing the ribbon on her arm to slide off, she dived over the axe and swept up her weapon, careful not to accidentally set of the gun and shoot randomly. When it was in her hands she activated the ratchet in the hilt which coiled the ribbon, smoothly sliding the black cord between the Axe's twin prongs. Wrapping the cord once more around her arm the Faunus lingered near the axe, weapon fully drawn.

Ruby hadn't made chase, she had instead dropped into another fighting stance, patiently waiting for Blake to recover. She had a slight smile on her face, and after a half-beat, she disappeared for the third time of the match.

Fully aware of how well her knee-jerk reactions had treated her before, Blake turned on a dime to face Ruby, who was already halfway through a jab. Flashing away again, and repositioning, Blake was able to get a good angle at Ruby's side, and she lunged with a lateral slash, which Ruby dodged back and away from, letting Blake make chase.

"So what book were you reading earlier?" Ruby asked as she ducked away from Blake's slash, diving away when the Faunus followed up with a kick to the gut. "Looked interesting."

Blake scoffed at the question, but somehow wasn't surprised. "Do you ever stop?"

The other girl seemed to chuckle and pause to tap her chin. "Don't know. Never really had to before, so—"

Blake rolled her eyes and fired two shots at the 2-bit comedian, who made a small yelping noise and threw herself back from both the bullets. The following swing with the kusarigama forced Ruby to flip backwards over the slice, landing on her feet and groaning when a second attack followed. The glint in her eye belied her mischief, however, and she flashed forward to stop in front of Blake before leaping over her with a great bound.

Blake had instinctively dropped a clone the second she saw Ruby move, her reflexes now warmed up enough that the slight change in Ruby's stance was enough warning, and from a few feet beside where she was standing before she followed the movement. She readied herself to leap in with a kick, only to see Ruby dive to the ground and cover her head with her hands. This was _immediately_ followed by the rather familiar silhouette of Gambol Shroud _rocketing_ over Ruby's head at a blistering speed.

Blake could only watch in amazement as the weapon shot like a bullet. She was then reminded of her quickly approaching predicament when the slack in her ribbon gave out and she found herself being tugged forward with a great jerk. She stumbled for a few feet before, lo and behold, her ankle caught on the prone form of Ruby Rose.

Losing her balance, the Faunus tumbled forward, catching herself with her hands while her shins laid on Ruby's lower back. Trying desperately to hold back her embarrassment, she held her head low, while Ruby panted audibly.

"I have… Been slain." She rasped, making a dramatic noise of death that sounded like it had been ripped straight from a B-movie. She even let her forehead hit the ground loud enough that Blake could hear the thud.

 _Sounds hollow._ Blake thought. _But why did she… Stop the match?_

The entire pace of the fight had been strange, and as Blake picked herself up from the ground she noticed that Ruby continued to play dead. The buzzer went off, indicating that the match had actually gone to time, which surprised Blake, and she glanced to Glynda to see her with an inscrutable expression. The woman's gaze was piercing, and her jaw was set as she glared at the unmoving woman.

"Psst." Blake heard, and she looked down to see Ruby looking through her with one cracked open eye. "Does she look mad?"

"Miss Rose, if you would not mind pulling yourself from the dust for one moment." Rang the pointed words of the witch, the toe of her heels clacking against the ground in an impatient tapping.

"She's mad." Blake deadpanned, to which Ruby audibly grumbled and stood, brushing herself off with her hands. She had a bit of a pout, which was a little cute, though the Faunus could also detect a little bit of apprehension in how she was carrying herself.

"See you later?" Ruby asked with some hopefulness in her voice, passing Blake by as she walked to her great axe and pulled it from the ground, clicking some hidden button to cause the blade of the weapon to fold in two and coil up against the hilt. When Blake didn't say anything the girl paused and looked over her shoulder and met eyes with the Faunus. She looked a little hurt.

"Is she going to pass?" Murmured the young girl that was following Glynda along a dim corridor. She had been silent ever since they left the combat amphitheater, so the Witch was surprised that she decided to pipe up now, so much later.

"Of course. Even with your… _Sandbagging._ " Glynda's tone was biting, intentionally so. She paused in front of the bronze doors of an elevator and tapped the 'call' button with a manicured finger. She then whirled around with pomp to face the young huntress directly. "I'm sure you must realize that most will see your actions as trying to mock the girl."

"That wasn't my…" Ruby bit off the end of whatever she was going to say and her shoulders sagged. Glynda took the moment to get a better look at the younger girl, still not quite believing that Qrow's long-lost niece would be alive.

The Huntress tapped her foot absentmindedly. _There is no denying it…_ Her brow creased and her nose turned slightly. The girl was the right age, about the same height that Summer was at that time, had her telltale silver eyes, the same embarrassed expression… It was almost like young Summer had risen from the grave. _That much is to be expected._ They were mother and daughter after all.

"But to answer your question." Glynda relented when she noticed that Ruby was maintaining her pout. "Yes."

Ruby seemed relieved, but remained silent as she followed Glynda into the elevator. She didn't offer any more words and neither did the witch, who was quite willing to let Ozpin do his work when they arrived. In the gentle light of the Elevator the witch closed her eyes and listened to the gentle tick of the clockwork gears which propelled the machine, quieting the questions which threatened to spill unbidden from her mouth.

Why had Qrow not contacted them to let her know she was coming? Did the man not know that his own niece had made it back to Vale proper without anyone noticing? Surely someone that Qrow had made contact with over the years would have some information on Ruby – especially if the girl was alive and within reasonable proximity to the Kingdom. The man had too many eyes, Ironwood would often comment.

The door opened with a soft chime and the witch marched Ruby out of the elevator towards Ozpin, who was doing a fairly good job of pretending that they were unexpected. The bespectacled man was, as per usual, mug in hand when he turned from his supposed watch over the campus. Glynda, who could read the man as easily as ever, could have rolled her eyes when the man's brows lifted noticeably, and his eyes took a confused expression.

Ozpin was a brilliant man, but theatre was not his strong suite, and at times like this he didn't truly need to be roundabout. The girl would not be surprised if he already knew who she was. At least, she shouldn't be at this juncture.

"Ruby Rose." Glynda stated, matter-of-factly, indicating to the girl with her chin. "Qrow's Niece."

Ozpin took a dramatic sip from what was probably an empty mug before responding. "Is this true?"

Ruby seemed to hesitate before responding. "Do all of you know Qrow?" She sounded a bit incredulous.

"As headmaster of the academy that teaches the finest Huntsmen and Huntresses of Vale, Qrow and I have been friends for a number of years." Ozpin smiled. "He often had high praise for his eldest niece. Thought you might be a great huntress one day."

Ruby said something under her breath in a tone which caught Glynda's ear. She couldn't make it all out, but the gist sounded somewhat bitter. It caused her already perpetually furrowed brows to dig a little deeper towards the bridge of her nose, though her suspicions were most dispelled with the girl's next words.

"So… Qrow is still alive?" She asked, her voice nearly a whisper.

 _What?_ Glynda's expression turned to one of surprise, head turning fully to look at the young woman. What was she talking about? The only thing that Glynda expected could kill the man was his liver, which his alcoholism had done quite a number to over the past decade.

"Because the last time I saw Qrow…" Ruby began, sounding a bit doubtful. "He was being thrown off a cliff by a Grimm."

There was silence in the room as the Headmaster and Witch exchanged glances. Both of them recognized this as the part of the story that Qrow could never fill in. His story began and ended within a minute, but there was an entire lifetime of Ruby's that wasn't accounted for, which both adults realized was standing between the two of them at that very moment.

"I assure you that Qrow is well." Ozpin stated with complete sincerity. "He recovered from the fall swiftly, but at that time you had already disappeared, leaving Yang behind. He suffered minor scrapes and bruises, but what was far greater a pain was the fact that you simply disappeared from the face of Remnant. He feared the worst."

Ruby had relaxed considerably when Ozpin began that statement, but her expression was a bit hard by the time it was done. The Headmaster seemed to realize his mistake and broke eye contact with the girl for a moment to contemplate how to proceed.

The girl had been gone for nearly a decade. Ozpin had, unfortunately, approached the matter as if she were a child which had gotten lost in the woods over the weekend, rather than someone who many expected to be dead, rather than alive.

"Have you contacted your family yet?" Glynda asked. The girl shook her head. "Would you like to?"

Ruby paused at that, before sighing. "I don't remember what our phone number is." She blushed, the color rising to the tips of her exposed ears. "It's been a while."

Glynda nodded, before holding her hand out to Ruby, who handed her the Scroll she had borrowed before the fight. The witch was starting to reconsider whether or not having the girl fight at all was a good idea. The girl's vehement denial at first had put Glynda in an awkward spot in front of the other students, and to be honest she thought the name had to be a coincidence. It wasn't until she saw the girl's skill with her own eyes, and the selfsame playfulness that Qrow himself still expressed from time to time, that she was convinced.

But maybe that was callous of her. She didn't really know.

She searched for Taiyang's contact information through Signal's instructor listings while Ozpin corralled Ruby towards his desk, where he found a chair for her and offered both women a drink, which Glynda declined but Ruby acquiesced. Ozpin set about grabbing the drinks while the witch dialed the number she found, waiting to see if Tai would pick up as late as it was on his work contact.

Five rings in and Ruby deflated a bit, glancing out the large windows of Ozpin's office with a deflated expression. "It's probably late for him…" She trailed off as if she was going to ask a question before biting it off in the air. "I'll see if I can call him… Sometime."

Glynda waited for five more rings to pass before closing her scroll and slipping it into a pocket in her skirt and crossing her arms. Ozpin spoke up in her place, handing a steaming glass of something or other to the girl and taking a seat on the other side of the table. "I won't force you to speak with your family to study here Miss Rose." He began, motioning to the young huntress with his mug. "You are nineteen, correct?" He waited for the nod before continuing. "Then you don't require any release from your parent for your lack of combat training."

"Miss Rose showed acceptable combat proficiency." Was Glynda's curt assessment. She rarely gave glowing assessments of any of her students, so while Ruby seemed a bit nervous Glynda meant nothing harsh by it. "She will be among peers in first year."

The muffled but still quite visible sigh of relief that Ruby made caused Ozpin's lips to turn at the corner, and Glynda herself smiled. Neither she nor him knew what had brought this girl to their doorstep unannounced, and the Witch didn't know how the girl learned to fight like she did, but the fact that she was just as nervous as any other first year about getting in was charming.

"Speaking of, I imagine you would want to get to meet the rest of your fellow students. I'll see about getting contact with Taiyang, and in the meantime…" He trailed off when Ruby stood, draining the contents of her mug in one long series of gulps and placing it a little too quickly on the surface of the desk, where it made a somewhat jarring noise of glass on glass. "I'll not keep you here then. Enjoy your first night at Beacon."

The girl nodded vigorously a couple of times before walking briskly from the room and into the waiting elevator. When she was out of sight Ozpin's expression turned pensive, and he took a deep breath before regarding Glynda. "I'm frankly amazed. She doesn't bear a countenance of someone living in the wilderness for half their life."

"I agree." Glynda concurred, placing her hands on her hips. "A strong aura, a realized semblance, unarmed combat skills…" The woman sighed. "She seems like she's fresh out of Signal." The man's grunt gave the Huntress pause. "Do you think it's suspicious?"

"Perhaps." The headmaster conceded, shrugging. "But full aware am I that life outside the walls of the Kingdom has given rise to as many skilled warriors as any of Vale's institutions. Of somewhat greater concern to me is her weapon."

"The Axe?"

"A Labrys." Ozpin corrected. "And an oversized one at that." Ozpin scratched his chin for a moment. "If memory serves, the combat style is mostly dead. In stories of ancient Vale they used such weapons for the sacrifice of bulls. More recently they were considered the weapons of trade by woodcutters… One side for chopping wood, the other designed to cleave a Beowolf if caught unawares in the night." The man arched a brow, but instead of pressing on with the theory he relented. "But no matter. I'm sure we'll hear the full story in time."

 **AN:** So, after some consideration this is the next full-length fic I'm going to be working on. HatM was a good experience, and I hope that I can bring some of the things I learned there into this story to give it a better treatment.

Of course, this fic is A/U based, but you're going to find that the influence of the changes center mostly around Ruby and who she is as a person, a much more mature yet still bubbly character.

For those of you who followed HatM you know that I usually keep a roughly weekly schedule, with a chapter usually going up on Saturdays. That was meant to coincide with the release of a new episode of RWBY volume 3, so I might pick a different day for this fic, whatever is going to work best for me in terms of writing pace.

Finally, thank you to everyone who decided to read this first chapter! For those of you who have had your fill, thanks for sticking with me this long! For those of you who want to read more, see you later!


	2. A Pair of Liars

**Chapter 2 :: A Pair of Liars**

"Uh… Are you alright?"

Jaune registered the words and lifted his gaze from gray cobbles to the young woman standing in front of him. He winced and blinked at the evening light which backlit the girl, who seemed to be looking at him with a mixture of amusement and genuine concern.

Amazed that someone had actually walked up to him, Jaune was flustered for a moment as he stood up quickly, raking his fingers through his hair to give it what he hoped was a look of stylish ruggedness. Girls liked that, right? He wasn't going to let this moment to sway one of these girls pass him by. _She must need some help finding something! I can totally just slide right in here and…_

"Ah, right, I'm fine." He said lamely when he noticed that the expression on the girl's face was more one of concern than the bashful awe he had hoped for. Hoping to salvage the moment, he piped up with renewed vigor. "So, do you need my help for something? I'm new here too but I've got a _pretty good_ sense of direction."

"No, actually. I thought _you_ might be lost." The girl replied, shifting awkwardly in place before motioning around them. "Because everyone is supposed to be at the cafeteria for dinner." A pause. "That probably includes you."

"Wha- Really?" Jaune exclaimed, not catching the girl's raised eyebrows as he attempted to surreptitiously scan the environ for a building that might fit the bill.

"I don't think you can see it from here." The girl said, pulling a folded piece of paper from a pocket and opening it to show a map of Beacon. She held it up for Jaune to see, pointing from their location near some lecture buildings and tracing a line towards the dorms and building which housed this elusive eating establishment. "Do you want to me to help you get there?"

Jaune almost immediately accepted because he honestly had no idea where he was right now. He found the monument at the front of the Academy after getting turned around, and when he moved to check his map it blew out of his fingers, and _then_ he found out he had forgotten to charge his scroll. He was hooped, as they say, and he wore his relief on his sleeve. Someone had come and – _not saved him! Jaune Arc didn't need any 'saving'._

He opened his mouth to say something and then hesitated. His pride, or maybe the erroneous thought that he still had a chance at wooing the stranger, prevented him from outright begging her. So closing his gob to prevent any bugs from flying into his mouth while he performed some mental jousting, he settled for what he thought was a curt nod.

Ruby herself seemed to hesitate at this point, which Jaune considered a point in his favor, misunderstanding it as her being intimidated by his coolness, as opposed to his painful-looking head bobbing.

The two started to walk, the girl taking the lead and walking at a somewhat slow pace, her eyes scanning over her surroundings. Jaune had his fill of the place, but he understood why people would be intrigued. Beacon had roads and buildings like a small town even though it was an Academy. Shops and cafes with closed signs and darkened windows gave an almost eerie atmosphere in the reddish light of the evening. The girl seemed to be content to observe her surroundings in silence, but one Mr. Arc wouldn't let that keep him from laying on the charm!

"So, I'm Jaune Arc." He began, giving the girl his best smile, trying to sound 'cool' and 'sorta distant but in a _sexy_ way'. "Yourself?"

"Ruby." The girl replied, giving him a bright smile, attempting to ignore his somewhat corny advance. "I'm new to town."

"Really?" Jaune didn't even try to hide the excitement from his voice. "Maybe I can show you around sometime?" His excitement turned into hasty 'coolness' by the end, obviously intending to hide the fact he though he scored by finding someone who didn't know the lay of the land. He coughed to clear is throat before continuing with what he hoped was a much less puppy-dog-ish tone. "I mean, I'm new to Beacon, I guess you already could tell that. But I've lived in Vale my entire life. I know all the _coolest_ places in town."

Ruby turned her head to him and he tried to flash another dazzling smile, though it fell from his face when he saw that she appeared to be emanating waves of doubtfulness. He frowned a bit as Ruby shook her head, grumbling a bit when she elbowed him in the side.

"Is that how you sweep the ladies of their feet?" She chuckled. When he turned red she snorted, but the bright smile on her lips caused him to relax a bit. "Not the smoothest delivery I've ever heard."

"I guess I'll need to work on it…" Jaune murmured, scratching at the back of his head sheepishly. "So, uh, Ruby, where did you live before you came to Vale?"

The girl seemed to contemplate the question with a hum, and Jaune patiently waited for her to figure out her answer. As the two of them clacked along the brick tiling of the path Ruby seemed to hesitate more than once to answer. Jaune was about to apologize for prying when she opened up.

"I lived in a few places. Most recently I was traveling east of Vale, doing some work for caravan drivers who move goods between settlements out that-a way." She pointed a finger to their right, in the direction of what Jaune could only assume to be the east, and made a little circular motion with a fingernail. "It was… Well, fun might not be the best word for it, but I ate, and never broke any bones. Anyways, I guess you could say I lived in the _Kingdom_ of Vale, but not the city."

Jaune made a sort of soft grunt of understanding, though in reality he hadn't seen much of the great wilds beyond the City's parapets himself. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Not at all." Ruby stated with a deadpan. "Only kittens and puppies out that way. The only way to calm them is rubbing their little paws," she pantomimed massaging said tiny paw pads with the index finger and thumb on both hands, "else they turn into demons."

"Really." Jaune stated, incredulous. "I can't believe there's a place like that in the world…"

Ruby stopped, and Jaune took a few more steps before turning to face her and seeing her perplexed expression.

"Wait, you're lying?" He tried really, _really_ hard for the words to sound accusatory, or like he didn't believe her in the first place and he was just playing along to be cool… Really anything that wasn't the embarrassed squeak he made. He coughed to cover it up. "B-but of course you are. That'd be ridiculous!"

"Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"Too late to save that one."

Jaune grumbled and sighed, while Ruby patted him on the back. The young man didn't think she was being mean or anything, maybe just teasing. It was appreciated, however, that she wasn't actually making fun of him. The way that she kept smiling despite her ribbing dispelled most of his worries, even if he was sort of bummed that he wasn't able to make himself look cool. He decided that he might as well get to know this new friend a bit better.

"So, how old are you?" He started with, it seemed like an easy question, starting walking again, plodding along at a faster pace than before. He was standing on the street whilst Ruby walked along on the sidewalk, now standing a few inches taller than him.

"Nineteen." Came the reply. "Twenty in a few months."

"Oh, an older lady." Jaune said, sounding about as zesty as a sad lemon peel.

"Was that a compliment?" Ruby asked, her tone dubious. At her sidelong glance Jaune opened his mouth, and before he could say anything he'd regret, he snapped it shut again. "Good call."

"I'll stop." Jaune said meekly, finally coming to terms with the fact that he had lost his chance, though unbeknownst to him he didn't really have a shot in the first place. "I'm uh, seventeen myself."

"They let babies in here?!" Ruby exclaimed with visible shock, covering her mouth as if a scandal had transpired before her very eyes. "What if I hadn't come along to find you?" She sighed, as if offended by the nerve of it all. "You could've been hurt, put something you found on the ground in your mouth." A beat passed. "Like your own foot."

"Ha ha." Jaune grumbled, catching the barb. "Real funny."

"Aw c'mon man, I'm sure you'll find someone who thinks your advances are charming." Ruby cooed.

"But of course!" Jaune scoffed, puffing out his chest. "What woman can resist a name like Jaune Arc?" He leveled a cocky smile at Ruby. "I sound like an adventure."

The young woman didn't deign that with a response, and instead turned and took the steps up to the dining hall and approaching the door. From where she and Jaune were standing all could hear the general japery going on inside. It seemed like everyone had long-since arrived, as a haze of voices and laughter emanated from the very walls of the building and through the great oaken door.

"Well." Ruby murmured, suddenly sounding a bit sheepish. "Here we go…"

Opening the door and stepping through the duo was met with a blast of sound. Jaune could pick up the threads of people shouting and laughing now that they were no longer muddled, and he smiled. Stepping past Ruby, who stopped just inside the door, he scanned the room beaming. He was still a bit nervous, but seeing all these people having fun filled him with excitement. All these people…

"So, where should we sit?" He asked, turning to his new friend to see her with a perplexed expression. She looked extremely hesitant, scanning over the people with a tense face before glancing down at herself and letting out a shaky sigh. "Ruby?"

She seemed to snap out of it and blinked a couple times before nodding. "We should…" She coughed to clear her throat. "Let's get out food first."

Jaune frowned before nodding his agreement. He scanned over the room and spied the glass panes which lined the queue to the food and made his way over, occasionally stealing glances over to Ruby. He hadn't expected her to get suddenly shy, or whatever emotion she was currently doing a poor job of hiding. Outside she had been playful and teasing… The sudden transition was quite jarring.

"Um, are you alright?" He hazarded to ask.

"Just feeling a little self-conscious." Ruby replied easily, causing Jaune to arch his brows. "All these people with years of formal combat training and here I am, some bumpkin from outside the city, looking like a shrine to drabness."

Jaune felt a jab of sympathy for Ruby, as he himself was feeling more than a little stressed himself for what he might have to do. She looked strong though, the way she stood was all power and her exposed arms were corded with muscle, which gave him the impression she might be suffering from nerves. As for the clothing problem…

Well, he could see that. Ruby's crimson poncho was definitely nice, but her shirt and pants were differing shades of grayish green. Her cargo pants were particularly worn, and her boots betrayed the fact that she had been walking in them for months at a time. It was a shame, he thought, because she was pretty.

Clapping an arm on her shoulder hesitantly, he smiled again. "Yeah, you do look sorta ugly."

That got a smile from her and she elbowed him in the ribs again, causing him to wince and keel over slightly. "Man, thanks. Receiving your pity for a moment there just… Snapped me out of that funk."

"You're welcome." Jaune wheezed, standing up straight again and rubbing his bruised side as he grabbed a tray from the stack. Handing it to Ruby and then grabbing one for himself, he put them both on the 'runway' that people were meant to slide theirs along on while they were grabbing their orders. "Just. Stop with the elbow. I need these ribs."

"Sure, sure." Ruby laughed, taking the trays from him and sliding them along so he didn't need to stretch too much. "You'll be fine. Whaddya want to drink?"

The pair went through the options and grabbed what they wanted, the two of them picking very different meals. Jaune, proving himself to be a man of refined tastes, grabbed a fairly hefty pile of chicken fingers and fries, with a veritable vat of ketchup on the side for seasoning. To drink? Water, as his mom told him when he was little that pop was bad for you. Ruby managed to keep her mouth shut about it, but only just.

Ruby herself went for a more balanced approach. Braised beef, asparagus, roasted carrots and potatoes. She was fairly salivating at the sight, and Jaune wasted no time making fun of her for it, though she ignored them in favor of imagining just how delicious the food would be. Her drink was water as well, if only because she didn't want to drink pop and ruin her chance at enjoying some really good grub. Grabbing a dinner roll on their way away from the food the two set about to find a table.

Most the people in the cafeteria had been there for a while, an hour at least, and had long-since finished eating. Jaune caught Ruby looking over the crowd still inside the building and seemed to mumble something to herself before she made a beeline long one of the walkways between the rows of tables. Jaune kept pace, trying to figure out where exactly she was headed, wondering if she knew any of the people here. It seemed unlikely but…

A burst of laughter at his side caught him off guard, as well as a blond girl swiveling on one of the benches and cutting him off. He let out a short yelp as he tried to make a quick step around the girl, but she continued to back up cutting off his escape plan. He silently cursed, realizing that the girl's mustard-colored jacket was about to get some ketchup highlights.

Before he could run into her, his tray was pulled from his grip sideways, leaving him with nothing to accidentally coat the girl with. It didn't stop the root of the problem, the imminent collision, and he blundered right into the blonde.

The yellow-haired girl barely moved, seemingly unaffected by Jaune charging into her, though she shot him a sour look. He didn't really get a chance to see it as he fairly bounced off of the girl and onto his rump, rocking against the ground as he regained his bearings. _I thought I walked into a girl, not a wall!_

"Sorry, sorry." Ruby said, and he looked up to see her holding both of their trays aloft, and well out of striking range of his recently flailing arms. "I didn't trust him with his own tray and here he goes walking into people."

"Ah, no, it's fine." The other girl replied, shaking her head. She brushed off her front and fixed the lapels of her half-jacket which had been put in slight disarray by the collision. She leaned slightly over and offered a hand to Jaune, who was looking a little red in the face from watching Yang fix her shirt. "I should've been paying better attention.

Jaune stammered a 'whatever' or some other somewhat tactless response with a shy giggle. Before he could embarrass himself, and Ruby by extension, the girl said some parting remark to her friends and walked off briskly, this time unmolested.

The pair then continued their walk, and Jaune soon found himself seated at an empty table that was a fair distance away from the other Huntsmen and Huntresses to-be. He looked to Ruby with a little bit of a question in his eyes and she shrugged before nudging his tray with her own from across the table.

"If you want to sit with someone else you can." She offered, nodding her chin towards a few occupied tables around them. "I'm trying to keep an eye out for a friend of mine, a shortish girl with black hair and a bow?" Her tone indicated a question as to if Jaune had seen any girls that fit the bill, and he shook his head. "Figures. Well, she's the sort of person that probably doesn't like people. At all. So if I'm going to force her to eat with me I sort of have to stack the deck in my favor."

"How so?"

"First," Ruby eyed her food with the wistfulness of a maiden seeing her lover to sea before holding up a finger. "Choose a table car away from others." Jaune nodded, as that part was obvious. "Second, have someone who will drive away others in case someone tries to be friendly." Jaune looked confused at that. "That's you. Any girls you try and pick up will probably run for it. If it's a guy, well, I've got an axe for that."

He was going to defend himself from Ruby's ribbing, but deflated since he didn't really have a good retort waiting in the wings. He paled a bit with the girl's implication that she would be handling the guys with an axe, but the playful glint in her eyes took some of the edge off of his worries.

The meal went by with little conversation, at least for a while. Ruby was attacking her meal with vigor that Jaune had never seen before, rapidly consuming one part of her meal before moving onto the next with zeal. It was quite the spectacle, enough so that he paused in his chicken strips to watch when she started dissecting her beef and shoving forkfuls in her mouth.

Her knife scratched against the plate with a loud squeal causing her to stop her gorging and look around sheepishly. Mumbling an apology into the air she was about to dig right back in when she caught sight of Jaune eying her with equal parts of fascination and apprehension.

"Wha?" She mumbled, her voice somewhat distorted by the combined forces of bread, meat, and sauce which she was munching on. Realizing how she sounded she swallowed the food in her mouth before repeating herself. "Sorry, what?"

"You look like you're enjoying your food." Jaune said flatly, taking the moment to motion at Ruby's nearly cleaned plate with a piece of chicken. "I mean, you're almost wearing it."

Ruby didn't get his hint and her brows narrowed, looking at him quizzically. _Really?_ Jaune hesitated for a moment before pointing to his own face with one of his tenders and making a sort of circular motion. She didn't look any more aware of what he was talking and he grumbled, poking himself in the corner of the mouth. She shook her head in an 'I don't get it fashion' and throwing a glance over his shoulder. His lips pursed for a moment before he closed his eyes. _Mom always said not to embarrass people if they don't deserve it._

"I think someone's watching you do that." Ruby murmured under her breath, looking to the side as if she was embarrassed to be seen with Jaune. _I'm not the one who has au jus on her mouth! Or whatever chefs call that beef stuff. Boyabas? Buoy-bas?_ Shaking his head of the confusing condiments of cow meat, Jaune rotated in his chair in an attempt to stare down anyone who was making fun of him and Ruby… Only to see nobody. In fact, while the two had been eating most of the cafeteria had wound up clearing out, leaving only a smattering of students, and a girl who could be heard arguing with kitchen staff from across the room. Turning around confused, Jaune saw Ruby, looking quite nonchalant, her mouth no longer marred with brown sauce, her hands clasped in front of her face with her thumbs holding up her chin. When she saw Jaune glaring at her in accusation her expression turned to comical surprise, one of her eyebrows climbing its way up her forehead to make a break for her hairline. She opened her mouth and the corners turned up in a bit of a smile, her voice under strain to keep from laughing. "O-whatever could be the problem dear Jaune?"

Jaune himself could maintain his straight face until Ruby made a challenging 'hmm' which came out more like a giggle, and her other brow started climbing heavenwards. He could feel some laughter rising in his chest before he raised his own challenging brow. "Oh what might you have in your hands Ruby?"

The girl shrugged, her expression cracking a bit more as she fidgeted with her hands, seemingly considering her options. Then, she started opening her hands, but as she did so she threw the scrunched up ball of paper napkin at Jaune, where it bounced from between his eyes and landed right on top of his bowl of Ketchup.

This finally caused Ruby to crack, and she cackled loud and unabashed at the look of abject horror on Jaune's face as he spied the paper. He made a disgusted noise which sounded equal parts offended and horrified. "You _ruined_ it!"

His undignified howl sent Ruby into further capitulations of laughter, falling sideways out of sight with a giggle. There was a heavy thud and Jaune winced, though he was still mad when Ruby stood and brushed herself off, still snickering. Trying not to look at Jaune she collected herself, breathing deeply and trying to force her lips into a thin and expressionless line.

"I'll…" Her voice cracked and she had to take a deep breath. "I'll get you some more."

Jaune huffed and crossed his arms indignantly, pointing up his nose as Ruby sidled away, trying and mostly succeeding in keeping her laughter to herself.

 **AN:**

Thanks for all the support on chapter 1! Whenever I post something new I get a bit nervous about how people are going to receive it. Seeing all the people following and favoriting it was really encouraging. I hope that I continue to meet your expectations!

Not much to say about this chapter. I had a completely different wording in mind for one of these chapters which was funny, but ultimately ruined the tone, so I left it out. Next up, we meet Weiss.


	3. Company Line

**Chapter 3 :: Company Line**

"What do you _mean_ you don't know the _vitamin_ breakdown?" Growled Weiss as the man working behind the counter at the cafeteria eyed her warily. She had been trying to get a straight answer from the man for the past ten minutes, and she was slowly but surely starting to get the impression the man didn't know _anything_. "We're _Huntsmen_ , and our diet is what keeps us going when we're fighting, and you're telling me you don't know what the salt content of this pork confit is?"

"Again, ma'am." Weiss appreciated the deference, but her frown remained as she had received the selfsame excuse over and over again from this bumbling fool for far too long. "My-"

"Right," Weiss hissed, cutting him off. "You're just behind the counter, you don't know when the food staff will return for the late evening, blah, blah." She heard a dull squeak behind her and ignored it, continuing with her tirade. "But that's unacceptable. Beacon is a prestigious combat academy that _you_ should be proud to be a part of," _Squeak,_ "not dancing around questions like this is some fast food joint on the boardwalk."

"Look, there's a salad bar, over near that young lady. I guarantee there is nothing out of place in the spinach." The man grumbled, much to Weiss chagrin. She tossed a glance over her shoulder to see a young woman pumping what seemed to be an over-generous portion of ketchup into a shallow bowl. The girl lifted her eyes to the heiress and shrugged, before turning back to her work, leaving Weiss with a sour look on her face. _Disgusting._

"I assure you," Weiss began with venom before she was cut off by the shrill sound of ketchup dispenser. Her face flushed red with embarrassment, realizing that the impudent girl behind her was making a mockery of the heiress. She grit her teeth menacingly, causing the man behind the counter to pale and scurry away, causing Weiss' already poor temper to flare at the sight of someone trying to escape her due wrath. It wasn't her fault they were incompetent! She whirled on a heel to confront the – empty space near the ketchup.

Scanning the mostly empty dining hall she saw the eye-catching red poncho of the young woman and stomped a trail to catch up to this… _Imbecile._ Though the black-haired girl had her back to Weiss, she seemed to be able to tell that she was being followed, and sped up her pace accordingly. The white-haired girl wouldn't dare show any _desperation_ by jogging or shouting after her to close the distance. Such an act would be below Weiss, and far from proper conduct. She wouldn't let this girl get the best of her.

And so, Weiss stalked the girl from an increasing distance, her glare boring imaginary holes in the back of the other girl's head. The brunette reached her table and seated herself about ten seconds before Weiss got within an adequate range to begin her deconstruction of character. The girl said something to the moping blonde sitting at her table, and he brightened considerably, reaching out to take that bowl of ketchup from her and dunking some fried meat… _thing_ into it.

" _Excuse_ me." Weiss began, placing her hands on her hips, her face falling into her trademark scowl. The blonde at the table glanced at her with some ketchup dripping out the corner of his mouth. She felt her lips curl in disgust as he wiped it away with the back of his hand and smiled. "But who exactly are you?"

"Jaune, this is your cue." The girl sighed, jabbing her thumb in the direction of Weiss before waving her hand dismissively. Weiss felt her scowl worsen, if that was at all possible, and opened her mouth to continue when the girl cut her off again. "Secret admirer. _Very_ shy, was watching you from across the hall."

Before the heiress could even _think_ to say anything, the blonde's eyes lit up with such brilliance she felt horror creep up her spine. He looked so excited and expectant and… _Yuck._ Jaune stood from his seat and tousled his hair so that it stood at odd angles before giving Weiss a toothy grin. Even if he had been attractive, which at this juncture Weiss could say with some objectivity that he was _not_ , the attempt at a charming display was still somewhat marred by the streak of ketchup along his mouth.

"Well, hey." He said, in a tone which came off a bit flakey. "No need to be shy. The Arc genes have that effect on people."

Before Weiss could manage a gag, the girl chirped up.

"Of course. Dizziness? Dryness of the mouth? Trouble breathing?" Jaune nodded at each of the symptoms, a smile on his lips. "Fever? Inability to articulate full sentences?" The boy winked at this point, causing Weiss to cringe. "Nausea?"

"Uh, Ruby?" The blonde said, his expression turning a bit confused. "Is that really a selling point?"

Said Ruby seemed to contemplate the question while Weiss tried to keep up. _Have they rehearsed this entire act?_ Weiss thought, blinking.

"I'm not sure." Ruby admitted, scratching her chin. "I forgot halfway through. Am I describing your effect on girls, flu on people, or both?"

Weiss, despite herself, turned her head to look at Jaune, who seemed puzzled by the retort. "I was talking about me."

"So both." Weiss' head turned again, this time to Ruby.

"No, no!" Jaune's voice raised, and he lifted a fried meat bit to shake at the girl and shook it in a nearly menacing way. " _I_ am _attractive_ to ladies I'll have you know. It's not my fault you're immune to my charms."

"Wait, wait!" Weiss piped up, tired of being… Made fun of? Ruby was definitely having fun at Jaune's expense, and as they continued to talk the white-haired girl was starting to feel like she was party to the humiliation. "I'm not here to listen to _you_ flirt," She jabbed a finger in Jaune's direction, and the shock on his face almost made up for the past twentyish seconds. "and as for _you,_ " She returned her hands to her hips to try and regain the composure which might have been slightly shaken by their display. " _who_ do you think you are?"

There was a drawn out pause, and the two seated at the table exchanged a glance. Jaune looked crestfallen at the confirmation that Weiss wasn't there for him, and Ruby looked somewhat confused. The girl turned in her seat to finally fully face Weiss and cocked a brow. "What are you talking about?"

Weiss opened her mouth, as if to spew forth some great tirade she had concocted on the way over. But found her tongue a bit heavy in her mouth. She had managed to work up the indignation to chase Ruby this far, but now that she had been summarily dismissed, made fun of, and was now being openly challenged to state her reason for being offended… Well, she had sort of run out of steam.

And it didn't help that Ruby's tone was… Derisive?! Challenging in the least, causing the heiress to hesitate. Some part of it nearly reminded Weiss of Winter, and that chilling thought caused her to cool a bit more. If this miscreant was anything like the older Schnee, perish the thought, Weiss might be in for a dressing down in front of the remaining students.

A less than appealing thought of course, though it left Ruby's challenge unanswered.

Much to Weiss' relief, Ruby seemed just as uncomfortable with her lack of reply as the heiress did, so she turned to Jaune and shrugged. The young man seemed like he was also feeling awkward silence and cleared his throat before speaking up.

"So, uh." He began, letting out a small 'eep' when Weiss shot him a sharp glare, Ruby snorting at the boy's timid response. "Would you like to sit with us?"

"Of course not!" The girl said, loudly enough that it could have been called a yell if someone had the misfortune to actually point it out. She faltered on what to do next, however, before backing up slightly. "Have a good evening!"

She had sounded a bit snooty, which was the intent, but as she walked away at high speed she couldn't help but feel eyes on the back of _her_ head. She would've turned to face Ruby and confirm her suspicions, but to do so would have been… Very un-Schnee of her. And she couldn't have that!

Blake had gone to dinner early, and managed to avoid running into Ruby a second time thanks to her decision. Unfortunately, she wasn't so lucky when it came to the sleeping arrangement in one of the halls.

She was leaning against the wall and enjoying her book, thumbing through the pages slowly but surely as she absorbed the story being laid out in front of her. She drank in the rich descriptions of the struggles of Dr Jeckyll and his alter-ego, Mr Hyde. It was a compelling piece of literature, even though at times the English was hard to follow. She had much and more practice with similar novels in the past, and had become mostly aware of the strange lingo employed.

Her reverie was not to last, however, as a particularly loud opening and closing of the doors to the hall heralded the entrance of the girl that the faunus had been avoiding, somewhat actively.

Immediately suspicious of who might have entered, the Faunus leaned forwards from her position against the wall to try and peak around the corner of the bookcase she was seated next to. Any tables and such that probably normally populated the large room had been removed in lieu of a place for the students to sleep, so Blake had a pretty good line-of-sight to the door.

She caught sight of a somewhat… _Cocky?_ Looking young man with blonde hair standing in the doorway with his hands on hips, and a goofy smile on his face. Beside him was a rather exasperated young woman which Blake immediately recognized as Ruby. The girl's pale expression indicated that she was probably quite embarrassed to be seen in close proximity to the boy. Blake shrugged to herself, she would probably feel the same with that display.

Sighing and leaning back against the wall, she crossed her legs and lifted her book, intent to ignore the situation and resume her reading. As she continued down the page she heard the recently-entered pair chatting even at her distance. The ears under her bow twitched involuntarily as she tried to, at least with some semblance of subtlety, listen in on what they were saying.

"I'm opening the doors from now on." Ruby groused, her tone laced with sarcasm as two or three people shushed them for their volume. The boy said something with a bit of a whine, which was followed by a short pause, then a dismissal. "I need to grab my stuff. See you later."

The girl plodded away, probably towards the lockers that housed the student's equipment and such, leaving the blonde to go off and do whatever. Much to Blake's horror this seemed to include stripping down on the guy's side of the room and putting on a onesie. It was surreal enough that Blake had to put down her book for a moment to confirm that the young man was in fact donning a… Baby blue rabbit-patterned…

Grimacing and trying to wash the image from her mind, she reopened to her page and tried to find where she had left off. _She's really trying to be a distraction._ Blake thought, flipping back a page to see if she had accidentally gone too far ahead. _Nobody at the test recognized her, judging by the reaction. She made a spectacle of the thing by not fighting with her weapon… And now she's making friends with kids like that._

Blake finally found the sentence she had left off on, a couple pages earlier than she thought, and continued, pushing the thoughts from her head. The girl was strange, but nothing to get distracted over. Her plan was to lay low, and no amount of poking and prodding of oddity would change that.

"Oh, are you Blake?"

 _Fuck._

Blake took a deep breath before pointedly turning the page, despite not being finished with the one she was currently on. It was a tried and true method of ignoring someone and right now she was relying on it to be a perfect counter to what she dreaded might be… A guy in a baby-blue onesie.

"Hello?" He tried, crouching and waving a hand, as if the Faunus hadn't already noticed him and elected to pretend this wasn't happening. "Hi I'm Jaune. Ruby's friend?"

Blake gave the blonde a blank look, willing him to simply turn and give up. Instead, his expression seemed to brighten up, going from glowing to brilliant. His toothy smile and the vacant look in his eyes elicited a groan unbidden from Blake's chest. She had the sinking suspicion that he was going to lead Ruby right to her.

Ruby walked into the locker room slowly, enjoying the peace and quiet she found. She was really enjoying chatting up Jaune, who seemed to be the sort of clueless kind. At first she thought he was a bit of a weirdo, and she was still pretty sure that he was a bit lame, but he had rebounded quickly. At first she had been concerned that he wouldn't get her ribbing, but he had managed to actually get used to it and throw some barbs back…

She sighed with relief, scratching her forehead and rolling her shoulders as she counted the rows of lockers to get to her own. She drummed her fingers on each as she passed, counting each row aloud under her breath. It was deliberate, a good old fashioned way for her to calm down. Her nerves cooled and she stopped counting, slipping between rows to find her number, 781.

Looking around and seeing that nobody was nearby, she pulled her labrys off her back and placed it flat on the nearby bench, making sure that it wasn't going to slide off and rattle against the smooth tiles. She would have to polish it before she went to bed, judging by the smudges against the gleaming blades, the thought making her grumble. She didn't particularly enjoy the weapon upkeep, but… She didn't really have a choice.

Opening the door to her locker she pulled out everything she needed. Loose black fleece pants, a red shirt, a fresh pair of socks, and a sleeping bag. She nearly closed the locker before grimacing and pulling out the polish and a rag, setting both on the floor away from the bench or her clothing.

Taking off her prized poncho and shirt, leaving her in a plain black bra, she glanced down at her dark pants and decided that any stain was probably not going to be all that noticeable. That, along with the thought that someone walking in and seeing a half-naked girl polishing her weapon would be _really weird_.

So she picked up her axe as she was, missing a shirt, and went to work. The Labrys, which she had never named unlike many huntsmen and huntresses, was a somewhat ornate affair. Collapsed as it was, it was quite difficult to figure out what exactly the weapon was supposed to be, the silhouette almost like a blood-red damselfly curled in on itself. Holding onto the 'tail' of the dragonfly, Ruby swung her arm out away from her body, letting the momentum snap the segments of the handle into place. They turned into a long rod, roughly five feet long, a three-pronged burr at one end making a nasty barb, while the two blades were still folded against each other, which she remembered someone once describing as being a 'metal taco'.

Ruby sat down on the bench with her polish between her feet and inspected the pommel and the handle, running deft fingers along the metal. The pommel had the three barbs set into it, two-inch blocks of metal roughly an inch wide which tapered into a point. It wasn't the most effective stabbing implement, but the staggered blades with their red insets and their brass-like finish made them look more dangerous than they actually were… Considering there was an axe on the other end.

The brass of the pommel twisted about a quarter of the way up the hilt, the creases inset with a red dye. The lower grip was made of rounds of leather, designed to be broken apart and snapped together again with the hilt as a whole. This red binding had, along the 'inside' of the hilt (which was only determinable by the letters and the stagger of the pommel), gold embroidery. The thread was woven into letters, one for each of the five bands of leather which bound the lower grip, spelling out 'Петя'. Above the grip the hilt flattened, the brass running along the edges while the middle of the hilt was inlaid with a stained-red wood, broken at regular intervals where the hilt split into pieces to coil.

She hadn't done anything to really warrant this thorough of a check, she supposed. Ruby paused for a moment to tug on the leather of the hilt to check the tightness of the binding, then running her nails in the crease between the metal and the wood. The old thing had been through much worse and only had a few scratches here and there to show for it, and the only thing she'd really done that day was drive the axe into the ground... She'd done that for practical and dramatic purposes more than once in the past, so she was confident there was nothing wrong, but she was putting off the annoying part.

The second grip on the axe was considerably higher, just below the lower flange of the twin blades. It was shorter than the other one, only two leather blocks wide and just big enough for the hand to grip. It made sense, as the lower grip was where both hands would have to sit for a two-handed strike, whereas there was no reason to hold the neck of the axe with more than one. Here, there was no lettering, and the grip ended just as the hilt began to widen in a diamond shape. The hilt expanded sideways and the middle of the metal started to bulge out, thickening again to a uniform shape before splitting sideways and then straight up, into two prongs. These prongs were folded towards each other currently, holding the blades side-by-side and perpendicular to the hilt, as opposed to flat.

Pressing the tips of the blades against the floor, she put some of her weight on the hilt, causing the lock to disengage. The two edges went flat and Ruby gently swung the weapon so that she was holding it at the upper grip, and grimaced as she looked at the assembly.

Set into the prongs on both sides were brass wolves. The tails of the beasts intertwined where the fork met at the hilt, and their lithe bodies bended towards the tips of the blades, their mouths open in silent howl. They were beautiful when shined to a mirror polish, but a somewhat ill-fated explanation of her weapon to Jaune had left it in the dirt after an empty threat or two. She smiled at the memory, and the look of fear on Jaune's face after he realized Ruby was serious about him cutting the flirting off, before going to work trying to get the worst of the grime off.

The rag was stained with oil, and while that wouldn't be a problem with the blades, the brass itself would look dull. Grimacing she looked up to her locker and tried to think if she had another rag that she could use, only to see a redhead with quirked brows blocking her line of sight.

 **AN:**

So we've had the first curse of the story. I hope that I can use these sparingly enough that when a character thinks or says aloud 'fuck' or anything else that it's funny thanks to the contrast. If I use it too much, then it won't be funny, so I guess I'll have to hold off for a while… Or not. We'll see.

In describing the Labrys, I wanted to try and craft for you a weapon which was very unlike the weapons of the world of RWBY. Gambol Shroud, Ember Celica, they're all 'high-tech' weapons which feel very futuristic. I wanted the labrys to feel a lot more like the sort of weapon you might find in high fantasy, an amalgamation of wood and metal. Something like a Trick Weapon from Bloodbourne for example.


	4. Launch

**Chapter 4 :: Launch**

Pyrrha hadn't intended to, at least at first, actually strike up conversation with the shirtless girl. In fact, she had felt quite embarrassed when she turned down a row of lockers to see a shirtless girl too caught up in servicing her weapon to notice someone had entered the room. The gladiator had gone so far as to step back and hide behind the end of the row to keep said embarrassment to herself, let alone let the girl know someone had walked in on her.

Pyrrha could scarce believe what she had seen, and as quietly as a mouse she peered around the corner to watch the black-haired girl fiddle with her axe. She couldn't readily determine who the girl was… She looked like she was too old to be a first year, but definitely too young to be a professor. So if Pyrrha was a betting woman, she would've put her lien on the girl being a third-year.

Interested in why the girl was so intense, Pyrrha decided to watch. Kneeling down behind the lockers to give herself some modicum of stealth, the gladiator watched intently as the girl's fingers danced over her weapon. Nails pulled at rivets, fingers tugged at leather bindings, fingertips brushed over wood and polish with equal measures of deft motions and intensity. It was somewhat mesmerizing, which made Pyrrha smile despite herself, watching the light glint off the bronzed metal of the axe as the girl moved it in the light. It was like the shirtless girl was showing off her weapon to those around, even though the crease in her brow belied the fact she was too steeped in her thoughts to notice anyone.

There was something almost comical about the girl's weapon, something which nagged at Pyrrha as she watched. The weapon was made of wood and metal, something brasslike, gleaming an ale-gold. It looked old, almost like it belonged in a museum. Most modern weapons forwent natural materials in lieu of alloys and composites, as they tended to be far more flexible and resilient when it came to wear and tear. Even her own shield and lance, despite their older design, used highly resilient alloys which afforded it great protection against the elements as well as tooth and claw.

Pyrrha thought to ask, but the current juxtaposition of her and the woman made that difficult. She _was_ technically peeping, she guessed, though that wasn't really her intention. Just an unfortunate side effect of something totally clandestine.

A grunt of displeasure caught Pyrrha's ear and her eyes refocused to see the girl inspecting the bronze figures that were set into the blade assembly, the metal noticeably dull even in the dim light of the room. Pyrrha followed her eyes as she glanced from the sullied material to the rag she had placed on her lap, and caught the grimace on her face and look of consideration.

Stepping forward, the Gladiator put her best smile on her face, blocking the girl's line of sight to her open locker. The girl took a moment to register that there was someone else in the room, let alone a couple feet away, and redness slowly creeped into the tips of her ears. Somehow, and Pyrrha honestly couldn't fathom how, she didn't seem all that concerned with her state of undress.

"Hi." The young woman began, sounding a bit curious as Pyrrha turned and started to fiddle with the access key to her own locker. Pulling the door open, she grabbed a dark red felt cleaning cloth from a hook inside the door and tossed it backwards to the girl sitting on the bench. "Uh, thanks!"

Pyrrha's expression lightened up, and she felt her expression brighten further, before schooling it into a less embarrassing façade and turning herself. "You seemed like you were looking for something like that."

"Hmm." The young woman sounded suspicious, and it was the gladiator's turn to blush when the brunette regarded her with searching eyes. Before she could feel any panic at the possibility that she had been caught, the girl's expression turned teasing, a brow rising and the corner of her mouth turning up playfully. "Were you watching me?"

 _Awkward._ Pyrrha's smile felt a little tight as she felt her own face turn a deeper shade of red. "I, I was just here and you're cleaning your weapon and it made sense that you might need-"

The girl's smirk widened into a full smile and she chuckled, cutting off Pyrrha's babbling. "It's fine, I would avoid me too." She held up the felt cloth motioning with it in thanks before turning her head down to her axe and leaning over, wiping the fabric against the blades. "I probably look like quite the weirdo."

"No." The gladiator denied, though that's exactly what she had thought a couple minutes ago. "Well, maybe. The shirt thing mostly."

"Yeah…" The girl trailed off, snorting. "That's what happens when you're light on packings. Don't want to get oil on my good shirt, don't want to walk around in a greasy one and make people think I'm a slob…" She paused in her wipe-down of the brass wolves and tilted her head up to Pyrrha, a lone eye meeting huntress'. "I'm Ruby by the way."

"Pyrrha."

"Pyrrhic Pyrrha?" Ruby queried, sounding bemused and turning to fully face the standing girl.

"Exactly."

"Sort of a weird name."

Pyrrha didn't really know how to really tackle that remark. Her name wasn't particularly common, unlike some of the other more common names out there (Ruby being one of them, gemstones were common enough in naming nomenclature), but it probably wasn't the weirdest combination of consonants in the world. "How so?"

Ruby seemed to ponder this for a moment before shrugging. "Well it's super old," She made a circular motion with her finger, "not, like, in a bad way like being named Gertrude or something stuffy like that."

Leaning back against her now-closed locker, Pyrrha's head tilted. "That's a sort of random piece of trivia to have." The question was audible in her voice, and the girl seemed to smile at the comment, giving another noncommittal shrug.

"I worked at a library when I was little, gave me lots of chances to read up on stuff." Ruby held her axe up close to her face to inspect the blades, making a soft noise that indicated her satisfaction with her work before putting the red cloth aside and picking up the oily rag. She poked at the container of polish with her toe trying to wrangle it closer to her before Pyrrha stepped forward and picked it up for her, which Ruby accepted with a quiet 'thank-you'. "I was there for a couple years. Got to read a bunch of stuff, some of it from way before the war."

Ruby paused in her explanation to do a little bit of yoga. She wrapped her legs around the handle of her axe tightly so it wouldn't shift, then pulled the lid off of the polish, keeping that tight grip on the axe. Pyrrha's brows raised at that, she thought it made much more sense to just use a bench to apply the polish, but the girl didn't seem to be straining herself.

"Doesn't that cramp your legs?" Pyrrha asked, since the position looked more painful by the moment.

"A bit." Ruby admitted, dabbing the rag in the goopy polish. "But this stuff is nasty, I'd feel bad for whoever had to scrape it off whatever I put this one on."

"Want me to hold it up then?"

"Thanks for the offer, but… Well." Ruby relaxed her grip on the handle of the axe and used one hand to keep it upright and motioning with her head for Pyrrha to approach. "It's sort of heavy."

The gladiator took another look at the axe and sort of saw what the girl was saying. Of the two blades of the axe, one was considerably larger and a curved L-shape, giving the impression that was the business side of the two blades. This blade was angled, so that the 'point' of the L was perpendicular to the handle, but had a somewhat strange property. Where the bridge of the axe attached to the blades, the major blade was almost two inches thick.

When Pyrrha grabbed the axe by the upper grip she instantly felt what Ruby was talking about, and she immediately had to shift her grip to prevent the axe from rotating sideways thanks to its weight distribution. Holding the axe blades parallel to her chest the major blade fought against her grip, intent on swinging down to the ground with a clang.

Exhaling, Pyrrha reached out with her semblance and tried to stabilize it with her magnetokinesis, only to find that the metal was completely unresponsive. _Bronze,_ she realized, feeling that the entire weapon didn't respond to her touch. It only confirmed her earlier suspicions, that the weapon was old, since Bronze had gone out of style for weapons long ago. Her own hoplon had a bronze finish on the front, along with some fittings on the edges, but she had never personally come across a fully-cast weapon made of the stuff before.

That also explained why it was so heavy. The stuff could weigh as much steel, and the main axe head was probably forty pounds alone, and wasn't at all counterbalanced by either the curve of the handle or the second smaller blade behind it.

"Yeah, it's not exactly the most well-balanced thing in the world." Ruby said, her brows raised at what Pyrrha imagined to be the frustrated curl of her brows at finding the axe annoying to handle. The weight was lifted off of her hands as Ruby pulled it from her grip and re-wrapped her legs around the handle and started applying the polish. "A traditional labrys has identical blades on both sides, but this one has an asymmetrical arrangement for some reason. A pain to use… Feels like you're swinging around a giant hammer."

"Why did you design it that way?" Pyrrha asked, silently agreeing that using such an off-balance weapon would probably be quite the challenge. "Surely you must've known that it would be trouble to maneuver."

Ruby seemed to pause at that comment before she looked at Pyrrha around the axe. "You made your weapon?"

Pyrrha felt her own brows shift at that before shaking her head. "No, but it was commissioned. Most Huntsmen either craft their weapons themselves or design their weapons and have them made by a professional."

The incredulous expression the girl was now sporting caused Pyrrha to chuckle awkwardly herself. The girl made a noise like a 'hmph' before going back to polishing her weapon, leaving an awkward air in the room. Pyrrha didn't know why, but the girl seemed to be suddenly distant, her brows knitted together, and her hands resting on the fore-grip of the axe.

 _Ah, maybe she_ _ **is**_ _a first year?_ Pyrrha thought, scratching at the back of her neck awkwardly in the silence. If so, and she tested in from somewhere, and she inherited the axe (which seemed likely because it was so damn _old_ ), she might be embarrassed… _And then I might've made her feel embarassed about it._

Pyrrha hadn't really said anything mean, nor intended to sound as such, but she was feeling a little guilty now. "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to assume anything."

"Ah, I was doing 'that thing' again." Ruby muttered, shaking her head before waving her hand that was holding the rag. "I should be apologizing, I'm nearly twenty and I act like a damn middle schooler sometimes."

Much to the gladiator's surprise, the girl stood and folded her axe, not caring to finish the polishing. She hung the rag over one of the folded blades and placed the weapon in her locker, on a hook which then folded up to save space, the rag conveniently keeping any drips from falling down to the other contents. With speed, and not saying much more, she packed the rest of the errant pieces she had taken out. She turned away from the end of the row of lockers, and hence away from Pyrrha, and swiftly unclasped her bra before pulling on a shirt.

In the scant few seconds before the shirt when on, however, Pyrrha could see a somewhat arced line of large scars occurring at regular intervals on the girl's back. Most notably, the keloids were dark brown, and roughly the size of half a fist in diameter. They were ugly marks, and it almost looked like the girl had been caught in a shark's mouth for those to form.

"Alright…" Ruby mumbled to herself, breaking the silence. "Reintroductions!"

Her voice was loud enough to catch Pyrrha off guard, and she stepped away from the now glowing Ruby, who looked like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Taking a deep breath she raised a hand and pressed it to her chest, planted her feet at a shoulder's width apart, and tilted her head slightly.

"My name is Ruby Rose," She began, her tone brimming with some quintessential vigor that was missing before, her eyes alive and gleaming without the dull intensity of concentration. "I, am a bit of a dolt sometimes, my taste isn't that good, I'm a quintessential country bumpkin." She then pointed a finger at Pyrrha, "I am _not_ , under any circumstances, a mopey kid with an attitude problem." She then motioned to herself and where she had been seated before, "You know, aside from that stuff."

"Oh, I didn't think you were moping-"

"Please, please, I know how bad I get." Ruby waved off Pyrrha's attempt to reassure her with a flap of the hand. "Hence this overdramatic…" The girl trailed off, again waving to their general surroundings. "Let's just turn in for the night."

* * *

Standing on launch pads set in a cliff wasn't exactly how Ruby saw the morning of her second day at Beacon going, but hey, she wasn't going to let that stop her from having a good time.

The young woman enjoyed the feeling of the breeze off the forest below. She could really only feel it against her face and her bare hands, given her attire. She wore a thick long black sweater which covered her neck down to her arms, and down her front to her thick cargo pants. The pants were tucked into the same old black boots she wore the day before, reliable and resilient as they were on all terrain. She topped off her simple equipment with her half-cloak, which was the only real accent of color against her drab uniform.

She was standing in the middle of the launch-pad sequence, to her left was Pyrrha and on the other side of her, Jaune, who managed to put himself at the very end of the row. To her right was the line of all the other members, the closest being the white-haired girl from before who was doing a bad job of pretending not to hang on Pyrrha's every word.

"You're sure we just get thrown off of these things?" Jaune asked for the umpteenth time, getting an eye roll from Ruby, who had confirmed this herself earlier, as well as Pyrrha. A few times each actually. "We do Jaune. And we'll survive. Me, Pyrrha, all the people to our right… And if we're lucky… Even you!"

"I don't know if that's helping his nerves." Pyrrha chided, tapping her foot on the metal plate she was standing on. "I'm sure you'll be fine Jaune. We won't let you fall."

"For long." Ruby piped up. "I might save you from your demise but only after I'm sure I'm not going to impale myself on a tree or something."

"Then _I'll_ save you Jaune." Pyrrha sighed and shrugged, holding her hands up, her tone teasing as she continued. "Since _someone_ here is too concerned for her own well-being to risk helping her friends."

"I don't know what I ever saw in you Ruby." Jaune grumbled dramatically, shooting a hurt look past Pyrrha at her. "You'd leave me to die?"

"Alright before we get all 'Ruby's a heartless killer' why don't we look at what I'm going to be able to do to catch you." Ruby held up a finger before dropping it again. "Basically nothing."

"You can teleport!" Jaune argued.

"No I _run fast._ " Ruby countered with a roll of her eyes. "Pyrrha how well do you run over thirty feet of air?"

"I tend to fall."

"Jaune? How's your running on nothingness?"

"Well," The young man paused for a moment. "Bleh."

"You two are _obviously_ annoying Pyrrha." Weiss snorted, her hands on her hips with her nose upturned. "Why don't you two flirt somewhere else? Get a room maybe?"

"I can assure you that I'm having fun myself." Pyrrha said, giving a tense smile to Weiss. "Thanks for the concern, but I can look out for myself."

Ruby glanced back to the heiress to see her face tinging red with embarrassment. With a toothy grin Ruby leaned towards the girl and spoke, "But I mean if you want to try and get in a room with Pyrrha yourself that's something you're going to have to sort out with her."

Weiss at first seemed to not get Ruby's joke, before some excessive eyebrow waggling caused her to eventually catch on and let out a noise of disgust.

"Can I be in that room?" Jaune called from his distance.

"You two, please." Pyrrha sighed, covering her face with a palm.

"I mean if it's all four of us that's a team right there." Ruby shrugged, before grinning and continuing with a grimace. "But then again there will be a one-in-three chance Jaune's partner, and then I'll have to listen to him complain about all the girls that just don't see his charm. Thinking about that sort of makes the cliff way more appealing."

"That's dark." Jaune shivered. "Good thing I'm irresistible. I'll be too busy trying to get the ladies off of me to talk to you, _old lady._ "

"Oh sweet embrace of death." Ruby sang, turning on her heel and wandering to the cliff. "Let me never hear such displeasure in thy bosom."

" _Please_." Pyrrha groaned, to nobody in particular, holding her hands together in prayer and shaking them.

"Good to see that everyone is in attendance for the day's festivities." Droned the unmistakable voice of Ozpin as he entered the scene, followed by Glynda. "This is, of course, your first step as Huntsmen and Huntresses in training…"

He moved to the space between the launch pads and the edge of the cliff and took a long sip from his mug, looking over every student in attendance in turn before reaching Ruby, where his eyes lingered, before scanning over Pyrrha and Jaune. His dramatic pause was enough to cause a few of the people in attendance to shift side to side in discomfort, while others remained silent. Ruby herself just kept her eyes forward, her toes drumming inside her boots.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin began, motioning to all those in attendance with a wave of his mug.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." The witch added, her eyes dispassionate as she cradled the scroll against her arm. Her eyes too laid to rest on Ruby for just a touch too long, giving her a bad feeling.

 _It's not like I've done anything bad since I got here._ Ruby grumbled to herself, crossing her arms over her chest and rolling her shoulders, only half paying attention to Ozpin's continued words. She didn't want to think that in the morning, when she had been trying very hard not to have to make that call to her father, they had gone ahead without her, and he had tried to forbid her from competing today.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ozpin continued, building from Glynda's words. His brows shifted, taking in the looks of those who seemed excited, distressed, or indifferent to his words. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

 _Jaune's a dead man._ Ruby though to herself flatly, shooting a blank look at the young man. It seemed that his nervousness about his pending atmospheric trajectory was being felt more keenly than his sense of wit, because he didn't catch her joking look. _I mean there are worse people to be paired with. Devil you know, devil you don't, all that good stuff. But really if comes down to him or Pyrrha… Don't know. He seems like sort of a wimp. A fun wimp, but whatever-_

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." Ozpin made a fake pause for questions, queries, all the sort, before continuing. "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune lifted his hand and coughed to get Ozpin's attention before the headmaster pointedly ignored him with a sip from his mug, turning his head towards the forest below.

"Uh, Ruby." Jaune whispered, looking at the girl pleadingly. "Have you done this landing thing before? You said you never went to an academy."

"No." Ruby replied in a conversational tone, not even trying to be quiet. _Everyone can hear us anyways._ "I mean, I've fallen from about as high before, so I have a basic idea of how not to break all the bones in my body."

"Seriously, will you be OK?" Pyrrha asked, her tone… Well, serious.

"Seriously serious." Ruby replied, shrugging as the last person in the line at the other end was launched into the air towards the forest. She turned her head to see that Pyrrha was also seriously seriously serious and shrugged. "I'll be fine. You worry about Casanova, make sure he doesn't break anything."

Pyrrha didn't seem to convinced by this, but nodded all the same, crouching on her tile and waiting for the mechanical push. Ruby herself did the same by crouching a bit lower, distributing her weight diagonally and changing the tension on the cord that tied her axe to her.

 _Time to learn to fly._

And with a mechanical click and a wooshing of wind, she was airborne.

* * *

 **AN:** Ozpin's speech is poignant in the anime, but we've all already seen it. I decided to include it here even though it takes a while because I personally forgot what he said here, and figured that others like me probably did to. It's one of those things that I maybe could remove from the chapter and there wouldn't be that big a difference, but when it came down to it this seemed a better choice than glazing over fiveish minutes.

Here's the part where I admit I totally copy and pasted the words for it from the wiki because I didn't want to spend twenty minutes scrubbing through the video to make sure I had everything. Eh, it worked.

Also, I'm posting this at about midnight… So there might be some spelling errors I'm going to have to go back and fix. I'll try and get to those in the morning tomorrow after class, if at all possible.

Thanks for reading thus far!


	5. I Dream a Dream of Green

**Chapter 5 :: I Dream a Dream of Green**

The airtime was fine, Ruby guessed, as she closed her mouth against the gust of wind that was trying to force its way into her lungs. With her trajectory set, she focused on the world racing towards her from below, trying to get a better look at where she would be hitting the ground. She saw a clearing surrounded by a ring of trees, and decided that if she was going to hit the ground like she planned, that was her best bet.

Whoops and shouts of excitement all around her caused a smile to break on her face, and she rotated in the air to see people flipping and rolling through the air. They all looked happy to be in the sky, even if they were falling, and felt their excitement creep up her spine. There was something about the fall, being with all these other people too, that made this terrifying experience so much more…

She couldn't think of the word, but that wasn't a big deal. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the pure blue sky as fresh air filled her lungs and her ears rang with the whistling of wind. Seconds felt like minutes, and she thought she might like cliff-jumping in the future if it always was this exhilarating…

"Ruby!" Called a somewhat insistent Pyrrha, whose words were punctuated by a screaming Jaune who entered and exited Ruby's field of view with alarming speed. "Can you get Jaune?"

"This is the 'running in the air' thing I was talking about." Ruby shouted back, wondering what bad luck it was that the one guy who was most likely to get injured was the one to get launched the hardest. Her deadpan internal jokes would have to wait because she or Pyrrha were going to have to do something within the next few seconds or else there would be a new Jaune-sized hole in Remnant. "You wouldn't happen to have a pocketful of solid ground, would you?"

Pyrrha didn't seem to find the joke funny, and as they continued to descend she pulled her shield off her back and hurled it at Ruby. The young woman caught the intent, though she wasn't sure how much momentum she'd be able to get off a flying metal disk. She rolled in the air and as the shield approached her feet with uncanny accuracy, she crouched in the air until she felt the somewhat impressive momentum of the metal under her feet.

Her feet planted she reached to her side to grab the grip of her axe to keep it swinging and took in a deep breath, feeling the world slow around her.

The thing with speed so blistering it's virtually indistinguishable from teleportation is that to actually get anywhere you need to have a pretty accurate idea of where you're going before you get gone. Ruby learned long ago that her eyes couldn't keep up with her own velocity so she had to rely on timing and reaction to do things in the breadth of an instant. She tilted her head so she had a line of sight to Jaune before pushing with her legs with the same force one might push off from the wall of a pool or dock when swimming.

She was distantly aware of the noise of the Shield being batted away as her field of view blurred, she reached out with a hand and waited the breadth of a heartbeat to clench her fist, snatching Jaune from his trajectory and dragging him with her through the air. The sudden pull on her arm and the tension in her muscles was the first sign, along with the sudden ear-piercing squeal that could only belong to one particularly excitable blonde.

Opening her eyes another couple seconds after plucking Jaune from the air, Ruby saw the rapidly-approaching greenery of trees and cursed under her breath, twisting herself mid-air and turning Jaune by the scruff of his shirt so that he was on the other side of her and the trunk of whatever arboreal menace was about to become acquainted with the sole of her boot.

Crouching slightly to take the brunt of the force, Ruby (and Jaune, but he was sort of accessory to the crime of tree-slaughter) crashed through the first tree with an unholy snap, her body thrumming red as her semblance absorbed most of the shock, and then promptly smashed into a second one. It was toothpick-ified with the reduced force of the two teens who then careened forward still, and a third tree got off with a partial break of the top when Ruby decided she'd had enough of this particular ride.

After bouncing off the third tree Ruby grabbed the back of Jaune's shirt and pulled it up, causing him to yelp as they fell and hung the young man by his shirt on a thick-enough branch that it wasn't going to snap with his weight. The effect was Jaune being captive in his own shirt and chest-armor, as they pulled up over his stomach to leave him hanging on the tree, eyes safely blocked from accidental eye-contact by the fabric of his top.

Ruby continued her fall, and drew her axe as she fell, slashing it in a crescent away from her and letting go, letting the weapon fall to the side away from her. Before it could get to far away, the cloth covering over it fell away, and the crinkling of chain could be heard as a thick chain which coiled around Ruby from shoulder to waist started unraveling. It wasn't too long, and only gave about three feet of clearance between the end of the chain where it was now tightly gripped in Ruby's hand, to the base of the axe where the rings wrapped around the pommel.

Swinging the axe with the extended grip of the chain, Ruby slashed towards the ground towards an Ursa who was looking a little too interested at the trees above.

With a great slash of her axe, the Grimm was bisected, the weight and momentum of the blades enough to force a way through is hide. She had the misfortune of not really thinking the part of the landing right after that though, and landed right on top of the dissolving corpse of the beast.

 _Alright, I go for the less cool attack next time_ ,Ruby thought to herself as she grumbled and pulled herself up from the corpse, pulling on the end of her axe and swinging it up and over her shoulder. She brushed herself off with her free hand and looking around for any more Grimm in the immediate area, blandly considering whether or not leaving Jaune to be found by someone else was a viable option.

 _Pyrrha would probably be a little disappointed._ Ruby sighed to herself, looking up the tree to see that the blonde was trying to extricate himself from his prison of shirt, tree, and basic plate armor. _But, I mean, what's going to eat him out here?_

Distant howling and the falling of trees punctuated that remark with a subtle counterpoint, and the girl had to admit that the forest had a point.

"Hey Jaune!" She shouted up into the tree, causing the boy to pause in his flailing and listen for a moment. "You good if I sort of leave you _hanging_ for a bit?"

From her distance, she could hear Jaune sigh in disappointment at the pun, and she chuckled. But she wasn't being completely joking. She was pretty sure that she would have attracted more than a couple Grimm with her little defensive maneuver to break through the trees moments earlier. She wasn't exactly sure how the local fauna would handle the little intrusion on their territory, and she wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to babysit Jaune at the same time as beating her way through a Beowolf or twelve.

"Can you just get me down from here?" Shouted back Jaune, who seemed a little unhappy with his predicament, though Ruby couldn't imagine why. "It's a little cold."

"Fine, but you gotta promise to not _immediately,_ and I mean _immediately_ get eaten by some oversized bear or whatever."

"There are bears here?!"

"Like an Ursa."

"What's that."

Ruby's eyes narrowed and threw up her hands. "A bear. A big one. Could eat you in one gulp and they're the size of a truck."

"Wait, _that_ Ursa?" Jaune shouted with his muffled voice. "I thought those only lived outside the Kingdom!"

"Well, yeah, we're outside the Kingdom right now Jaune." Ruby snorted, waving her hand at their surroundings. "Middle of nowhere, actually. There could be all sorts of nasty out here. Like snakes the size of which you've only seen in your nightmares, where you cower in your bunny onesie or something."

The sound of something Bumbling through the underbrush caught Ruby's attention and she listened closely for a moment, peering into the forest to see where the noise might be coming from. She thought about letting Jaune know that she was going to be a little bit, but… _I also could not. I won't be gone long enough for him to be scared… Probably._

Slipping away from Jaune silently, Ruby slunk through the underbrush until she had a better line of sight down the slight slope from the copse they'd landed in. She didn't see anything under the shadow of the trees, and the only thing which could be hiding under ferns or bushes would be a squirrel or other such rodent.

There was a flapping of wings, and Ruby's focus shifted to the trees, only to catch sight of a crow flying off through the branches and leaves. She was surprised it could make this much noise, given the fact it was a small thing, but figured that there were stranger things out there than portly corvids.

 _I can probably handle a bird if it tries to get the jump on me,_ Ruby thought to herself with a chuckle. _Though Jaune might be hard pressed to fight off their assaults. And tiny beaks. Devilish tiny talons._

She turned and meandered back to Jaune, only to see a rather bemused-looking Heiress with her hands on her hips silently watching the boy struggle to disentangle himself. Since Ruby hadn't heard her berate the boy it was a good bet that she was being quiet on purpose, and that meant that she was smart enough to know that she would be on the receiving end of some begging and some (pitiful) flirtation.

 _She must be waiting for Pyrrha._ Was Ruby's safe conclusion, since Weiss probably wasn't around for socialization with her or Jaune, though she did seem quite entertained by the situation. _Using Jaune as bait?! Hah! Too bad I already thought of that plan!_

Now, she was subconsciously aware that this probably wasn't Ozpin's plan when he launched them from the Cliffside, so she didn't really try all that hard to be sneaky as she approached the heiress from behind. The headmaster probably wanted the partnerships to be spontaneous, or something. _What a contrived way of doing things._ She paused in her stalking and her brows furrowed. _Wait, this partnership system is the opposite of contrived. Unfun?_ She made a noncommittal hand gesture by raising both hands and shrugging, her drama lost on the unseeing trees about her, and Weiss' lack of attention.

Once she was in striking range, and the clearing was filled only with the sounds of rustling leaves and struggling student, she jabbed out with her finger as swiftly as she could, keeping track of where her rapier was so that she could probably dodge should it become necessary. Mere millimeters away from her waist, Ruby heard a shuffling of branches to my right, but was too committed to this bad idea to really do anything about it.

Ruby's index finger poked quite hard into Weiss' side, just above the pelvis. Not hard enough that it would do any damage, but with significant enough discomfort that she was _certain_ it would get a rise out of the girl. What she hadn't expected was the rather swift series of events which followed.

Weiss, obviously quite unhappy with the sudden intrusion into her personal bubble, no less the fact that it was done so quite _masterfully_ , and responded in a way Ruby considered a _little bit_ over the top. The girl screamed, _loud_ , though it could also be considered a particularly shrill cry of indignation, and _leapt_ through the air, drawing her sword at the same time. Her eyes wild, she swung the blade in an arc as she leapt away, her furious eyes and reddened cheeks. Her wild eyes landed on Ruby, and her blind rage seemed to cause her to forget the rules for teammates, and her nose wrinkled in anger.

"You Imbecile!" Weiss screamed, swinging her Rapier to bear to point at Ruby, even as she was soaring away. The motion slashed through the branch that Jaune was hanging on, and the young man began his descent from his roost towards the ground. She didn't notice, and Ruby didn't think the drop would hurt the kid, so she instead decided on a cheeky pose. Tilting a corner of her lips in a grin, she snapped her fingers with both hands and pointed her fingers at Weiss in a comical fashion. As Jaune fell, his arms flailing through the air, she flicked her wrists like she was firing twin pistols, making matching noises with her mouth.

"Jaune!" Shouted the fourth on the scene, Pyrrha, who dashed from just out of sight to be able to snatch Jaune out of the air just before he hit the ground. Holding him like a damsel in _ye olde faerie tales_ she peered down at him with concern wrinkling her brow. "Are you alright?"

"I'm sure he's _fine._ " Ruby said with a roll of her eyes, miming holstering her two 'hand-guns'. She was careful to keep an eye on Weiss, who was standing on one of the tree's branches. She wasn't exactly keen on getting whatever nasty reprisal might come her way from the blonde if it turned out she couldn't take a ribbing. "I didn't drop him on his head or anything."

"Hey!" Shouted Weiss, stamping her foot down on the branch she was standing on. "Are you just going to ignore me after you try to attack me from out of the blue?"

"It wasn't really an attack."

"Oh I _beg_ to _differ_."

"I feel like you do that a lot."

"And just what do you mean by that?"

"That's a complicated question."

" _You're_ a complicated question."

"What the fuck sort of retort is that?"

"So I'm Pyrrha's Partner?" Mumbled Jaune, who had been placed on his feet while Ruby had been busy bickering with Weiss. This comment immediately got the Heiress' attention, as her eyes, which had been focused solely on Ruby's, hadn't yet made contact with Pyrrha's own peepers. "Right?"

"Unless Weiss thinks she saw your face while she was flying by…?" Ruby asked, quirking a brow at the white-haired girl. The challenge was noted by the girl, who narrowed her brows at the older girl with a bit of a harrumph, crossing her arms. "Then I think you're safe!"

"Yes well," Pyrrha sighed, shooting a quizzical look Ruby's way before following her gaze up to Weiss, who was moping in the tree, "Now that we're all sorted we should make our way north."

"Do you think there will be more Grimm?" Jaune asked, following closely behind Pyrrha as the girl started walking away. "Because if we could take some sort of path through the forest that would avoid _as much_ of them as possible… I'd uh… I'd vote for that one."

"Ruby, I'm guessing you don't know where these ruins would be?" Pyrrha called, pausing and giving Ruby a chance to catch up, Weiss lagging behind her.

"No, sorry, not unless Ozpin was talking about ruins which are much, _much_ farther away than I expect." The brunette gave a little shrug. "So no shortcuts. Only a heading."

"It'll do." Pyrrha sighed, before throwing a cheeky smile over her shoulder at the girl. "And here you were complaining about _Jaune_ being useless."

* * *

A silent arrangement had been had between the four of them, and Weiss wasn't particularly pleased that she was following along with it.

She and Ruby were walking in front, about twenty feet ahead of Jaune and Pyrrha. Those two were moving a bit slowly because Pyrrha was giving impromptu lessons to her charge on how to properly use his shield.

"I can't believe she's stuck with him." Weiss grumbled, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she trudged. "I mean; He doesn't look like he knows which end of his sword he's supposed to hold in his hands."

"Eh, we all start somewhere." Ruby replied with a shrug, her eyes focused forwards as she walked along. "He's just sort of starting late. _Really_ late."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "That doesn't make any sense. This is a school for Hunters, not people off the street who just happen to smile for the camera just the right way. How'd he even get in if he can't use his weapon?"

Ruby's eyes got a bit wide for a moment before she let out a dramatic puff of air. "Cheating!"

"Right?" Weiss whispered conspiratorially. "It's the only way."

"It just might." Ruby conceded, which caused Weiss to preen for a moment in the thought that she had managed to excise an uncontested deference from the older girl. Her puffing-up would be short-lived. "But I don't care. And neither should you for that matter. None of our business."

"Oh come on." Weiss groused, crossing her arms. "You had to do your entrance test. You must have some skill to be here, but not him."

Ruby shrugged again. "That's for Pyrrha to figure out."

"That's what I mean!" Weiss countered. "She shouldn't have to!"

"Oh, _whatever_." Groaned the brunette. "You're just bitchin' 'cause you're not partners with Pyrrha."

"Am not!"

"Oh _sorry_ , I'm sure you were stealthily watching blondie because you wanted to be partners with him."

Realizing that this path of inquiry wasn't leading anywhere convenient for the heiress, she pursed her lips and crossed her arms, keeping her head high. She wasn't particularly interested in getting strung out by this woman, and if that meant she had to concede a minor embarrassment she'd accept it with grace.

"Unless you wanted to be partners with _me!_ " Ruby cooed in a too-sweet voice, clasping her hands together and batting her eyelids. She was so dramatic about it that she went so far as to step into Weiss' field of vision and walk backwards. "In which case I'm _so_ happy!"

"Ugh." Weiss grumbled as Ruby laughed and spun on her heel, clasping her hands behind her head and whistling loudly. "As if."

"I feel like I'm going to be hearing that combination of three words a lot over the next three years."

Weiss could've rolled her eyes at the comment, but instead she just smiled. She covered it up pretty quickly when the girl fell back into step beside her, but there was something funny in the way Ruby carried herself. It reminded her of Winter again, which was a bit too high praise for the girl, Weiss thought. The fact that she could be mean while still having a dry humor underlying it all was a trait that the heiress appreciated.

Though she might die of embarrassment to say it aloud, there was something comforting in having someone that reminded her of Winter here.

Some shuffling in the underbrush caught her attention and she stopped, placing her hand on the hilt of Myrtenaster. "Did you hear that?"

"I did." Ruby replied, shrugging the strap of her axe off her shoulder and resting it against the crook of her neck. A smile on her face belied her excitement, and with a flourish of her hand she swung her axe through the air and extended the blades. "Sounds big and dangerous."

"How do you know that?" Weiss asked, suspicious, before a blur of black filled her vision. She let out a short gasp as the great paw of a Beowolf came to bear against her. She was saved the blow by Ruby, who stepped in front of the heiress and threw up her axe horizontally to take the blow with a soft grunt. The creature roared at the affront, its hulking body looming over the pair as it lifted its other hand for a slash.

"Just a guess." Ground out the older girl as she dug her feet into the ground, Weiss missing the moment where she tossed the Grimm away thanks to a particularly thick gob of spit splashing into her face from the monster's maw. Wiping away the offending liquid she saw the Grimm fall backwards, thrown completely off-balance by the other girl, who then delivered a particularly nasty-looking overhead chop to the Grimm's lower abdomen. "Grimm tend to be big." She turned around and smiled at Weiss. "Sort of a gimme really."

"Right." Weiss mumbled, furrowing her brow. "Do you think there are more?"

"Dumb question." Ruby scoffed as the sound of growling filled the woods around them. "When is there ever just _one_ Beowolf?"

On cue, a pair of Grimm leapt into the fray, directly at Ruby, who grumbled as she stepped away from the pair with ease, swinging her axe back into two hands and glowing a soft red. The first of the two lunged straight for the girl, and for its trouble it was caught bodily on the end of her labrys, the major blade piercing its chest and forcing a bark of pain from its chest. A jerk of the arm and the blade was pulled free, and its chest was torn open.

Weiss couldn't quite catch the in-between moment as Ruby disappeared and reappeared in front of the second Grimm. A flying leg that used to be connected to the first Beowolf gave some idea, though it was a scant moment later when Ruby swung her axe in a great circle to cleanly slice the second Beowolf's torso from the rest of its body.

In a flash she turned on her heel and threw her axe, the blade coming within a foot of the Heiress as it blazed past and out of sight. She whirled around to see what Grimm might've been sneaking up on her only to see the axe stuck in the ground, handle-up, no Beowolf in sight.

" _That,_ " Ruby said, her tone sheepish, "was me pretending to look cool."

"You could've hit me." Weiss sniffed, crossing her arms.

"But I didn't." Was Ruby's counter, walking past Weiss and drawing her axe from the ground. "Which is good because you looked like you were a bit lost there."

"Was _not_!"

" _Anyways_ ," Ruby rolled her eyes and tilted her head to listen to the forest for a moment. "There are definitely some more, and they're going to be a bit of a hassle…" She looked past Weiss towards the pair that they had been leading and blinked. "Where did those two go?"

"Uh." Weiss blinked before scanning behind them herself. "I… Don't know."

"They're probably fine." Ruby breathed, shifting audibly. "Pyrrha can handle Jaune herself, if she can find a tall-enough tree to put him in."

"We shouldn't slow down." Agreed the younger girl, though she looked a bit concerned as she scanned the woods. "A world-class Huntress-in-training has more than enough skill to keep one civilian safe."

Weiss hated the fact that her tone wasn't quite as flip as she wanted, a feeling which was compounded by the look of suspicion that Ruby bore.

"Is she really that good?" She asked, her tone sounding a bit uncertain. She motioned with her hand for Weiss to follow and continued forging a path through the underbrush. It surprised the heiress that the girl would speak with uncertainty but act in such a cold way. She had half expected Ruby to try and backtrack to see if they could find them by blind luck. _But why did I assume that?_

Realizing that she hadn't actually replied to the young woman, Weiss spoke up. "She's a champion. She is known for winning the Mistralian Regional Tourney four times in a row…" She exhaled, seeing in her mind's eye the first time she watched a girl the same age as her stand atop the podium at the end of the tournament. "She's basically an icon. Some even call her the 'Invincible Woman'."

"Right." The brunette scratched at the back of her neck, but her expression was hidden out of sight from Weiss. "If you say so."

"I'm sure we'll be required to spar, and when we do you'll get to see first-hand the abilities of Pyrrha Nikos." She stated with pride, an aloof smile on her face and a hand resting on her hip. "Honestly I'm surprised you never got the chance to see her in action. She's been on the news _several_ times."

"Never really had much access to television growing up." Was the somewhat annoyed response Ruby gave, causing the heiress to bristle at the sudden change in tone. "But I'll take your word on it." She deflated a bit. "Sort of."

Before Weiss could really ask what 'sort of' meant, Ruby's aura warmed up, the red light tracing up and down her arms. The white-haired girl opened her mouth to ask what was going on but was cut off when a series of howls echoed around them. The Howls were met with matching cries from a much farther distance, the noise barely audible to Weiss' human ears.

"So," Weiss asked as the sound of gnashing teeth filled the air once more, "what now?"

Ruby shrugged, slinging her axe over her shoulder before throwing Weiss a catty smile. "We run."

* * *

 **AN:** Exam season. Gotta love it.

I hate this chapter. I feel like everything is just a little off and it's driving me up the wall. Fortunately, we're moving past this pretty quick, so I should be able to compose something which feels better next chapter.

Also a sneak-peek at Weiss being a Fangirl. Never got enough of that in the show, so I'm going to bring it back here.


	6. Reunion

**Chapter 6 :: Reunion**

Weiss wasn't exactly sure one way or another if Ruby had a plan when she darted off into the woods.

The heiress had simply made chase, doing her best to keep pace with the ducking and weaving of the older girl as she slipped through the forest, the green and brown of the forest slightly blurred by their speedy passing. More than once she found a flicking branch slap into her cheek, or brush against her hair, and her nose wrinkled. She'd spend the better part of an hour getting all the twigs and nonsense out!

But that was five minutes ago, and now the white-haired girl had a new focus: staying ahead of the nipping mouths of Beowolves.

"Why are there _so many_ of them?" Shouted Weiss, curling up her knees as a particularly excited Beowolf lunged for her ankles. "I didn't know there were this many in all of the forest!"

"Yeah bait tends to do that." Ruby muttered back, only turning her head slightly as she broke through into a clearing, spinning on her heel and coming to a swift stop. She glanced over the space behind Weiss and grimaced, scratching her cheek with a finger. "But really talk about desperate. There has to be fifty of those things."

 _Don't look back._ Weiss thought, closing her eyes as a small wave of dread washed over her. She was starting to suspect that Ruby's unspoken plan didn't have the all-to-important exit part figured out. And now they had more Grimm than they could shake a reasonably-sized stick at. Marvelous.

To add insult to injury, Weiss spied that the 'clearing' that Ruby had stopped at was the run-off of a cliff. Things were getting better by the second.

Coming to a stop beside Ruby and brandishing her weapon, the heiress dropped into her combat stance, her eyes watching to see the piles of Beowolves behind her slow to a stop, fanning out to encircle their position against the cliff edge.

"You can't say that it's likely Jaune and Pyrrha will get eaten by Grimm now." Ruby quipped, scratching the back of her neck. "I mean, that'd be pretty unlikely given we probably have half the forest trying to get some of this sweet Huntress soul."

"What sort of _stupid_ plan?" Weiss muttered, her teeth clenched. "You could've just _found_ them."

The redhead seemed to ponder this as the Grimm that were fanning out in front of them bared their fangs and howled. Their yelps and barks sending spittle this way and that, paws kneading the soil and tearing into it with extended claws.

"Yeah, but finding everyone in the forest would take _way_ too long." Stated Ruby as if it were in any way, shape, or form, a valid point. "This way we lure all these things away from anyone that might get hurt, then make it back to the ruins or whatever before the time is up, and we're golden."

"First," Weiss began, scowling at her partner, "I-"

"I'd really love to go over why this is a terrible idea but we don't have much time for verbal smack-down." Ruby interjected, stepping over to Weiss elbowing her in the side. "Time for us to run back."

"We barely kept ahead of them running here you idiot!" Growled Weiss, jabbing her own elbow back at Ruby with sneer.

"No, _you_ barely kept up with them after making the poor decision of following me." Sniffed Ruby. " _I_ intend on leaving them in the proverbial dust."

"How?"

"On a scale of one to ten how much boiling rage do you feel?"

"About an eight." Weiss responded flatly. "And that's being quite generous."

"I was hoping for a seven there but that'll do." Ruby sighed, lifting her axe over her head by the base of the hilt so that from foot to blade she looked eleven feet tall. "How much do you hate surprises?"

"What does that have to do with-"

In the span of a couple seconds, Weiss found out what the surprise was and was quite upset about it. As her honest nine on the rage scale jumped up to a full ten she watched Ruby overhand throw her axe like a tomahawk into the crowd of beowolves, killing one and knocking over those standing behind it. Ruby then Stepped sideways, swooping down and knocking Weiss' feet out from under her. The heiress only had an instant to feel the sensation of falling before the older girl hefted her up into her arms. Not waiting for Weiss to get her bearings Ruby then launched herself forwards.

"What the FUCK!" Weiss shouted as she watched the world around her blurred, and the sound of Beowolves disappeared into the distance. Her words left her lips but didn't register in her ears, the wind taking the breath from her lungs before she could exhale. She squinted her eyes as the swiftly moving air began drying them.

 _Now this is an eleven_ she growled to herself.

* * *

"Do you mind explaining to me what exactly the fuck is going on?"

"Qrow…" Sighed Ozpin, looking over his knitted fingers at the rather displeased-looking man in front of him. The huntsman looked worse than usual, bags under his eyes deep, his eyes red, his usually disheveled hair was in an even worse state. "Before you send a chair through a window, I'd like to tell you that we've only known of Ruby's existence for a day."

"That's an awfully long time for you _not_ to tell me that my dead niece was still alive." Qrow gritted out, his mouth twisted into a scowl.

"Taiyang doesn't know either." Glynda supplied. When Qrow shot her a horrified look the huntress continued. "He didn't answer his scroll last night, and the girl seemed unwilling to press on with it today."

"Why?"

"Your guess is as good as ours." Ozpin shrugged. "I imagine that it might be hard to come up with much to say when you have to begin a conversation with 'I'm Alive.'"

Qrow cooled down a bit, nodding. "That still doesn't explain why I wasn't told."

"We know you would be watching for Yang." Glynda said. "Honestly, what were we supposed to say?"

"Something." Qrow replied, taking a deep breath. He was silent for a moment, his eyes directed out the window. "It would give me more time to think about what I'm going to have to say when she's back from initiation."

"You sound confident." Ozpin remarked, his eyebrows raised. "We don't know what sort of training she has."

"Doesn't matter." Qrow said, his voice a mix of pride and sadness. "She made it back here from who-knows-where. She's got the combined potential of Summer _and_ Taiyang… How could she not be ready for this?"

* * *

"There sure is an awful lot of noise coming from the forest." Mumbled Blake as she approached the stone ruins that stood center of the clearing she and her new partner had just entered.

"Yeah, sounds like the other teams are having a bit of fun." Yang murmured, scratching her head as she heard a small explosion in the distance. "Maybe a bit too much fun. We barely saw anything on the way over here."

Blake nodded and cast another glance towards the tree line. She noticed that a few of the pieces were already missing, though there were several gold and black pieces to choose from. She looked at a few of them and tried to discern if there was any rhyme or reason to the selection. Rooks, pawns, and knights composed the vast majority of the selection of either color, with neither Queens nor Kings in sight.

 _Two of each, eight pieces per 'side' minus the two that are missing. Eight pairs are supposed to make it here then? And one pair beat us._

Seemed simple enough. It didn't seem like enough pieces to go around for the entirety of first year, so there must be another challenge on another day to determine the teams.

She picked up a knight and held it up for Yang to see, who shrugged and nodded. "I mean, they didn't say which one we had to grab, did they?"

"Not that I can remember." Blake replied, humming. "If I had to guess the pairs with the same piece get grouped together to make a full team of four."

"Ooh." Hummed Yang, waggling her brows. "Should we wait here and see who picks up what piece, then grab the other one?"

"I feel like that would be against the spirit of the exercise." Blake replied flatly, pocketing the piece. "Besides, I don't like the thought of finding out what's going on with…" Her ears twitched under her ribbon. "What's that noise?"

"What noise?" Yang asked, quirking a brow before glancing at the woods. "I don't hear anything… _Oh._ "

Out from the forest came a blur of red and white, the approach accented by a gush of wind that sang through the trunks of the trees at the edge of the clearing. The blue skidded to a stop shortly after clearing the forest, the white disentangling from the red as a girl flopped onto the ground and rolled a couple of times before coming to a stop on her stomach. The red continued on, the blur looking more and more like a young woman who jogged up the stone steps, waved shortly at Blake, before snatching a piece off of one of the pedestals.

"Great!" She shouted, holding the golden knight up to the light for half a second before stowing it in her pants pocket. Turning on her heel she continued in a sing-song voice, "Now to get out of heeeeeere."

"What happened?" Yang asked, her confused expression showing a bit of amusement as she looked between Weiss and Ruby. "You two look exhausted. Having too much fun in the woods?"

" _Someone_ please smack her upside the head!" Groaned Weiss, who planted her hands on the ground to heave herself upright. Dirt had stained her tights, her dress, some had gotten into her hair, and there were a few scrapes and bruises on her hands and chin. "I'd do it myself but I have to remove the _twigs_ from my ponytail."

"Eh, you know." Ruby shrugged, pursing her lips. "You try baiting a few Beowolves away from your friends, turns out there are dozens more hanging around than you expect."

"Dozens… Plural?" Blake asked hesitantly.

"Oh yeah." Ruby nodded, "I'd put it in the ballpark of oh… Around fifty?" She turned her head to Weiss, addressing the heiress. "Would you say fifty?"

"Eat shit."

"She thinks fifty."

"That's… Impressive." Yang whistled. "So uh… What'd you do with these fifty Beowolves?"

"We-"

"Ran away!" Shouted Weiss, who was now standing and tried to brush some of the dirt and dust off of herself. "Like fools!"

"What she said." Shrugged Ruby, with a 'what can I say' sort of expression. "But I probably have a good fifteen-minute head-start so barring anything truly horrible happening, we're all fine."

"Did someone say horrible?!" Shouted a voice from the forest, one that none of the girls present recognized.

"Don't you DARE!" Shrieked Weiss, who jabbed a finger in the direction of the voice. "I've had it up to _here,"_ she motioned to her own neck, "with this _nonsense_! If you dare come out here with something _ridiculous_ I'll strap you to a tree myself!"

There was a protracted pause as the voice seemed to reconsider whatever they were going to do.

"Nora, get off the Ursa."

"But… But…"

" _Please._ "

"Ugh, _fine!_ "

A moping orange-haired girl and a young man with black hair walked out from the forest, the girl suddenly perking up once she saw the pieces and rushing forward.

"Thank you." Weiss sniffed, placing her hands on her hips. She then shot a glare towards Ruby. "I'm going to _formally_ request a different partner when we're done with this."

"Aw, but you only hated me at an eight!" Ruby pouted, kicking at a piece of stone under her feet. "I thought we had something _special._ "

"Near blinding hatred?" Yang supplied with a smile.

"That's putting it a little harsh." Replied the older girl, with a frown. "How can you really even hate someone you've only known for a day."

"She seems to have found a way." Blake deadpanned, shooting a not-so-subtle look of distaste towards Weiss. "I'm not surprised."

"Aw you _do_ care Blake!" Ruby sighed, giving the Faunus a thumbs-up. "And here I thought you thought I was a pain after our match yesterday."

"I did, and I still do." Blake replied in a dull tone, replying to Ruby's thumbs-up with a thumbs-down. "What sort of person pulls punches in a fight."

"Well, maybe I wanted to make friends-"

"Not to interrupt the bickering, but…" Interjected the black-haired man. "Weren't you saying something about… Oh, fifty or so Beowolves?"

"You're right." Ruby said, making a popping noise with her lips. " _But_ , I gotta make sure that another pair of people make it out of here before the wolf-pocalypse so you all should go on without me. Us. Weiss and I."

"Why do I have to stay?"

"Because we're _paaaartners_." Ruby rolled her eyes. "And don't tell me you're not here for Pyrrha. I know the second you get to Oz's office she's going to be top of the list of people who you could conveniently shack up with."

"Don't put it that way!" Weiss growled. "I just want to be _partners_ you idiot!"

"We're gonna go." Blake sighed, motioning for the others to follow. "See you after the Wolf-pocolypse."

"Bye Blake."

"Bye Ruby."

"Ruby _help me!"_ Shouted Jaune, who was soaring into the scene with great speed, seemingly flying like a bird launched into the air against its will by a particularly powerful monster of some sort. In the distance, the sound of trees being blown to bits heralded the approach of said monster.

It seemed like things were actually just getting started…

* * *

 **AN:** Some questions in the reviews that I want to answer here so that everyone can see them…

 **Kinzarks** : "Do you have any special beasties planned?"

Yes! And no. I do intend to have more Grimm appear in the story, if at all possible. Beowolves and such are cool and all, but there are times where you want a more substantial adversary. Different types of Grimm fit the bill for that better than others. I don't really want to talk about them too in-depth, but you can expect fairy-tale-y monsters to appear in the future.

For those of you who read Howling at the Moon, you might think 'A-ha! We'll see The Beowolf!', That's not at all in the cards. Continuation of that story and plotline is on hold while I work on this, so barring any random references I make in jest, you won't see characters like Njala or Gige make appearances, nor indeed The Beowolf.

 **Red Renegade 777:** "Why is there the focus on being able to see Ruby's aura?"

Because I'm not good with subtlety. Saying you can see it is just convenient. The explanation for why her aura was swelling wasn't covered until this chapter (where she mentioned off-hand that it was a good way to draw Grimm to her) , which probably didn't help.

As further explanation, I believe as a rule that a human with a strong aura is inherently more likely to be a target by Grimm. This belief follows a pretty straightforward thought flow of "Grimm hate souls, Aura are excitations of the soul, thus Grimm hate Aura. Stronger aura - Greater hate from Grimm." So that's why Ruby's running through the forest lit up like a Christmas tree was so effective at gaining attention from the local Beowolf population.

 **General Note:** People seem confused about this still, so I'm going to just state it plainly:

Ruby was born 2 years before Yang, and hence 2 years before the rest of the first-year cast. Everyone else (in first year) is ~17, while she is at the tail end of being 19 herself.

This means that Taiyang and Summer got married (or whatever they were doing) first, and Summer died about a year after Ruby was born, before Tai and Raven got together and our favorite drama-samurai had Yang.

Raven left when Yang was about 3, making Ruby ~5 when Branwen went AWOL.

As per why Ruby didn't recognize Yang in chapter 2, Yang just doesn't recognize someone she hasn't seen for the better part of a decade.

 **AN2:** Well I'm super late. Guess who doesn't have an excuse? Me! I apologize for any mistakes, I just sort of wanted to get this done while I had the momentum for it.


End file.
